A much-needed update

I am finished with school for the semester (yay!) and am finally taking some time out to update my blog. For those of you who don't know, we are now living in Waco! It seems like that's been a long time coming, but we are enjoying our new house and trying to find some time to open up all these boxes and put things away where they go. It is quite an ordeal (to say the least)! I don't know how some of you do it/did it right after having a baby. Wow--that's impressive! We are in a real convenient location and it only takes me 10 minutes to get to work. What a difference!

We have lived here for about a week and a half now and are slowly getting settled. I realized late last week that Christmas was fast approaching and only then did I get to begin my Christmas shopping, which is really late for me! But living in a city has made Christmas shopping much easier.

Shane and I have been preparing for our transition from Gatesville Church of Christ to The Grove Church--the church we are planting here in Waco. Shane's last Sunday preaching in Gatesville is the Sunday after Christmas (only two weeks left--wow!), and then we will shift our focus to the ministry here. We are sad about leaving the church and our friends there, and I'm mostly sad that Elizabeth will be leaving her little buddies (and that they won't have her around either). She and her friend Aydan are really close, and she's going to miss him a lot. We are really excited about the new possibilities here, though, and are looking forward to getting started on something we've been dreaming about and praying about for almost two years now. Keep us in your prayers!

Baby #2 is doing well, although he is measuring three weeks ahead of where he should be and might turn out to be bigger than Elizabeth. I'm not someone who wanted to wait until the baby came to find out what it is (since we don't necessarily have to anymore), and I have enjoyed calling him by his name. I'm not sure I've posted what his name is going to, so here it is: Peyton Poe Alexander. Peyton is Shane's middle name (and Elizabeth is my middle name), so our kids will each have our middle names as their first.

Elizabeth is doing well. She is now sleeping in a big girl bed and doing very well with it. I honestly thought it would be the most difficult feat for her (and for us!) since she had been sleeping in a crib for so long, is a major squirmer while she sleeps, and loves having walls surrounding her. But she has done quite nicely with the new bed. Only a couple of times have we had to be firm with her to stay in the bed. Now every morning I wake up to a little girl tugging on my sheets saying, "Momma, can I get out of my bed now?" :) Um, well, since you're in OUR room asking me this question, you already are out of your bed, but yes, you can get out now.

Here are some other Elizabeth notables:
1. The first morning Elizabeth's crib was set up in the nursery (Peyton's room), Shane found her jumping in the bed. He got her out and reprimanded her and she came running up to me (who did not know what had happened), stopped just short of my belly, and yelled, "I was jumping in your bed, Peyton!!!"

2. Elizabeth is still saying to me, "I want Peyton to COME OUT!" I do, too, honey. Just not yet. We still have a little over 3 months to go.

3. Elizabeth is now "daytime" potty trained, and let me say, "It is wonderful!" It's so nice not to have to change diapers and smell poopies. It took her a while to go poopy on the potty, but now she has the hang of it, lets us know, and makes it to the potty just in time. There is one downside to having a potty-trained child, though, and one that I never really considered: when she and I went Christmas shopping last Saturday, every store we were in (sometimes two or three times), she always had to go potty. And since you can't bring your unpaid merchandise into these restrooms, it really became quite a hassle. But not too bad, since most of the time, I had to go, too!!

4. Whenever Elizabeth meets a new person, the first thing they always say about her is, "That girl really talks a lot ." To which we say, "Yes, she is a very verbal girl." (Sidenote: I really like how much she talks because you always know what she's thinking, but it's the volume of her talk that is a bit disturbing because she only knows one level!) People also always make the assumption that she's much older than she is and when we tell her that she's two, they say, "Wow, she knows a lot of words and speaks very clearly for her age." To this I usually say, "She gets a lot of practice!" (To those of you who know Shane, she is his daughter in this way (a talker), and since I love listening to him, I love listening to her, too. Her daddy has had a bit more of an adjustment to her constant talking than I have."

5. Like I said earlier, Elizabeth loves to talk. The other day we were in Marshall's and she was singing her ABCs at the top of her lungs. Several people gave me those "knowing grins" that people give when they want you to control your child, but one nice woman came along and talked with Elizabeth a long time and was very nice to her--despite her loud singing.

6. Elizabeth says words that I didn't even know she knew: "breakable," "batteries,"Cinderella." These are the ones I can think of right now.

7. Elizabeth has this much-loved bear that Aunt Kellee and Uncle Anthony gave her while they were living in Chicago. Elizabeth named this bear "Cago" (the word "Chicago" is engraved on his chest), and today she was feeding him from her pretend high chair. I asked, "Cago, what are you eating?" And she said, "Momma, Cago doesn't talk. His mouth won't open."

8. Elizabeth's favorite TV shows are Dora the Explorer, Miss Spider's Sunny Patch, and Go Diego Go. She rarely watches The Wiggles or Mickey Mouse Clubhouse anymore. It's nice to learn about new shows!

9. Ever since Elizabeth was born, my dad has been on TV quite a bit and since we don't get to see him very often, we always like it when she can see him through the tube. We try to catch him on TV whenever we're home, and whenever he appears, Elizabeth runs up to the TV and waves at it, screaming, "Hi Teddy! Hi Teddy! That's Teddy!" I wonder what she thinks about seeing him this way. Is she impressed that Teddy is on the same TV that Dora comes on?!!

10. Elizabeth is really big on saying, "Remember when...." and then filling in the blank with one of her recent happenings. Her most common "Remember whens" involve going to the zoo, playing on the playground at the school, throwing up in the car on the way to Austin for Thanksgiving, living in the apartment, filling up her sticker charts, and hurting her knee. I find it really interesting that she has memories at this age, mainly because she won't remember these memories in a few years.

11. One day we all went to Fuddrucker's for lunch. We ordered the sliders (the new mini-hamburgers they have). Elizabeth ate one all by herself, and then there was one left over. That evening, I had an event with my department and Shane fed her that leftover hamburger for dinner. The next morning, I fixed her some oatmeal and when Shane came in the kitchen to see what we were doing, she yelled, "Daddy, I didn't have a hamburger to eat!" Was she excited about this fact, or did she want another hamburger?!!" Who knows?

Since the move I have not been able to find the device that downloads my pictures from my camera. When I do find it, I'll post some recent pictures. Hope all of you are doing well and that you're enjoying the holiday season. Take care!

Motivating factors

I have learned what works best to motivate my daughter to do well with potty training--a potty chart! We were doing so well this summer but with travel and different schedules, it has NOT gone well this fall, to say the least. We virtually stopped for several weeks. Nothing was working. We tried M&Ms and candy treats and letting her watch a special TV show. And nothing motivated her to try. So, I decided to try again with a potty chart.

You have to understand one thing. Elizabeth loves to be involved in whatever it is we are doing. She always says, "Me help!" Anytime I am cooking, she always wants to pull up a stool and help. When I'm doing laundry, same thing. When Shane makes cookies, same thing. She is a GREAT helper! Anyway, I printed out a Dora the Explorer potty chart and we went to work. She filled up that thing so quickly that within a week we got to take a trip to Wal-Mart and get a treat. She ended up choosing a Veggie Tales CD that only cost 5 bucks. What a deal! We started a new one this week and she even went #2 on the potty. She gets two stickers for that! We're still working on the poopies and hopefully she'll be fairly trained when we move to Waco next month!

Since it looks like my child is motivated by extrinsic prizes, we've now started another reward chart that includes brushing her teeth (which she HATES!), cleaning up her toys (which she isn't too good at yet), and helping out with chores (which she does well at). I can't believe she's become this way so early! At least it seems young to me. Kids are smart--do what your parents say or want and get rewarded with a prize.

The Bee Movie

One thing that Gatesville is unique for is that it has a drive-in movie theater. When I was pregnant with Elizabeth and when Elizabeth was a baby, Shane and I used to go to the drive-in pretty regularly. It only cost $5 for a carload, and you get to see a double-feature of current movies. We haven't ventured out to the drive-in since Elizabeth couldn't/wouldn't sleep through the whole thing, but when we saw that the Bee Movie was showing tonight, we couldn't resist.

We got hamburgers from Sonic and headed over to see the show. Elizabeth sat in her car seat the whole time, and we had a nice time. Since Elizabeth wasn't familiar with the characters, it took her a while to get into it and learn what was going on, but once she learned about Barry the Bee, she watched the whole thing and even chanted and cheered for the bees. She pretty much talked through the entire movie, and I can see why we haven't ventured into a real movie theater with her. In our car, she can scream and cheer and ask questions without raising too many eyebrows. So, the first movie she ever saw at a theater was the Bee Movie.

I do have to say that this movie was quite impressive. Jerry Seinfeld was one of the writers and the script was funny, clever, and nuanced. Shane and I both liked it a lot, and I'm sure it will be appealing to children everywhere. I hope it does well. If you or your kids are looking for a good flick, I recommend this one.

We didn't make it for the show after this one--The Seeker (I had never heard of it anyway). Elizabeth was getting restless, and so we decided to come home and put her to bed. All in all, it was a great night. We will definitely miss that place when we move to Waco. Hopefully, we can take the whole family to the theater when everyone's a bit older. That would be a lot of fun. If you live close to Gatesville or just want to go to the drive-in, keep Gatesville's in your mind. Have a nice weekend.

"It's a .............."

Shane and I went to the doctor this morning and got to see our little baby movin' and shakin' around on the screen. Just like with Elizabeth, these people are always talking about how much this baby is moving around. I do wonder if there is ever a baby who DOESN'T move around?!!

Anyway...we saw two eyes, a heart, two feet, a kidney, a stomach, lungs, arms, legs, and, (dare I say it?), a penis!

Yes, this next one is a boy! No doubt about it. 100% sure.

I haven't been home yet so I couldn't scan in an image of the you-know-what (maybe I won't anyway to protect the little guy's privacy), but I did want to provide a visual to commemorate our baby being a boy. Since Elizabeth is a "Daddy's Girl," maybe this one will be a. . . Now is that such a bad thing?!!!

Pictures III--Halloween

In honor of how Elizabeth calls every insect she sees a "wadybug" (especially ants!), Elizabeth was a ladybug this year for Halloween. She looked so cute in her red and black. Once again this year we went to Baylor for their annual trick-or-treating in the residence halls. All the freshmen girls were dressed up in fun costumes and had a good time handing out candy. Elizabeth was a bit shy this year, which doesn't quite fit her, but has really enjoyed eating all these treats!

Here's our little munchkin with her bucket that she now likes to take with her anytime we leave the house.






















We especially liked the back of her costume.






















Here is Elizabeth walking down the decorated hall in the dorm.






















Mommy and Elizabeth

















Daddy and Elizabeth

Wake up calls

Elizabeth is our wake-up call. I don't think I've had to set an alarm but a handful of times in the past few years--even when I have to get up at 6 a.m. to get ready for work! Now that we are living in a two-story apartment we have a monitor so that we can hear Elizabeth when she calls.

Anyway, on Sunday we wake up to these sounds through the monitor:

"Daddy! Come get me." (in a sing-song voice)
"Daddy!"
"Daddy!"
"Daddy!"
"Come get me!!!!!!!"

[LONG PAUSE]

"Shane! Shane! I neeeeeeed you!"

Shane and I looked at each other and started cracking up, even though it was 5:15 on Sunday morning (Daylight Savings Time meant nothing to our girl.). What's funny is that Elizabeth often hears me say, "Shane, I need you," and when I yell this across the apartment, he comes quickly to help. Since Elizabeth knew that Daddy comes for Mama when she calls him Shane, she figured she might as well try to call him in that same way.

Needless to say, it worked.

Pictures II

Here's another round of pics. These are all from August! Wow--that long ago!

Elizabeth loves her sweets! Here she is eating a cupcake at cousin Brooklyn's birthday. Yum-yum!




















All the kids took Shane's parents out to dinner for their 35th anniversary in August. We at at Jasper's, a restaurant in The Domain in Austin, and it was really, really good, and we had a great time. We went to eat at Amy's Ice Cream afterwards and that's when we told Shane's siblings that we were pregnant.















Here we are laughing it up. Elizabeth loves tickle-tickle time!















The Alexander Clan:
Barry and Karen (Mom and Dad)
Zach, Shane's brother, is on the far right end.
Brent and Josephine and their daughter Eleanor are the other ones in the picture. They, too, are expecting another baby. These two will be really close in age (less than a month apart, we think!).















And here is our little family. We don't get to take family pictures very often, so I wanted to post one of the few that we had.

Pictures I

So I finally downloaded pictures off my camera. 287 to be exact, going back to August!. I figured I would post some of them here. Enjoy!

Here is Elizabeth playing around on one of the numerous cars located in the Waco Mall. Sporty! She was content to just go from car to car that I never even got the chance to put a coin in the slot!

Elizabeth loves Uncle Zach. This picture was taken right after we had eaten Sunday lunch after church. Elizabeth had a frilly white dress on, which we took off so she wouldn't get pot roast, gravy, or carrots on it. For some reason, we didn't put another shirt on her before her nap so here Zach is reading to her like this. I tried to get them to raise the book high enough so there wouldn't be anything too revealing! E loves that Mickey Mouse!

Elizabeth loves her tricycle, her "gasses" and her penguin, so here they all are together in one picture.
We went to Austin a few weeks ago while Gatesville interviewed a preacher for Shane's position. Here we are at Zilker Park. For some reason, the pictures of the kids wouldn't load!!

I hope to post more pics soon, especially the ones from Halloween. Fun! Fun!

The moon over Gatesville

Elizabeth has become fascinated with the moon and so I wanted to write down a few of the things she has said about this mysterious object:

1. We went to Dallas a few weeks ago and when we got out of the car one night, she said, "Where is the moon? I can't see it." I responded by telling her that sometimes during the month we can't see the moon (I didn't use the term "new moon"--that would have really confused her). Then she said, "Yeah. We'll see the moon again when we go back home. It's not here, but it's at home." Apparently, the moon can only be over Gatesville--one place at a time.

2. We were looking at the moon while we were driving home last night and Elizabeth said, "Mama, I want to drive our car up to the moon and touch it."

3. We were in Waco recently and Elizabeth saw the moon before she got into the car (Always excitement in her book!). When we got into the car, she got so upset (i.e., threw a fit) because she did not want to leave the moon. She still does not understand that the moon can be seen from both Waco AND Gatesville.

4. She always tells the moon "Good night" every time we get out of our car and come inside. Since we don't have a garage at the apartment, she gets to see the moon more often than when we would drive straight into the garage.

I like how much she talks about this object that I typically don't think twice about. It's nice to see things afresh through the eyes of children.

Life Happenings

Ok. So I'm finally posting for all of you who have been complaining that I haven't updated my blog in a while. I'm sure I've lost many of my readers by now, but maybe I can get you back by actually being a bit more consistent in my posting!!

So, the past several weeks have been crazy. Here are just a few of the happenings:
1. A visit to the emergency room at 10:30 at night. Elizabeth ended up being diagnosed with bronchitis but was later re-diagnosed with the croup. She is on medicine,

2. Travel, travel, and more travel. We have been on the road almost every weekend since early August (and that's not counting the summer trips)! We're out of town again this weekend in Austin visiting my sister Kim and her family. We'll see Shane's dad tomorrow at church--his mom is still in Russia and we are ready for her to come back. I know Elizabeth misses her!

3. We have been extremely busy with church planting business. We went to our last "training lab" for Mission Alive; we have held two fundraising dinners for The Grove and have two more planned in Austin and Houston; we printed brochures and waited for 4 weeks; we have finally sent out our fundraising letters (today!); and we have spent much time in prayer and are seeing these prayers answered in ways that are new and exciting for me.

4. We were given tickets to go see the Longhorns play football and had a great time. I hadn't been since Shane and I were dating and we had a nice "date." Thanks, Granbarry for watching our girl!

5. I went to the doctor because my upper back/side has been hurting. I had to have an ultrasound and they couldn't find anything. They said it could be inflammation of the ribs, but I can't take any ibuprofen, so there is nothing I can do but deal with the pain.

6. Potty training has ceased temporarily. With Elizabeth getting sick, us traveling for 8 weekends in a row, church planting getting into high gear, and work, we have not had the time or energy to clean up all the mess-ups and wet spots in the carpet.

7. Elizabeth is going through a magnified stage of not listening to anything we say. No form of punishment works on her. She just ignores us all the time. We are definitely ready for her to move past the "terrible twos" and hope they don't last on into the threes like we've heard is very possible!

Other than that, life is going well. I have been so encouraged with the church plant. We will move to Waco in about a month and are so excited to begin our ministry there. We also find out in three weeks what this baby is and are excited to be able to start calling him or her a name (and stop confusing Elizabeth every time we call the baby a "her" and then the next time we call it a "him"!). Hopefully, it won't be this long until my next post, so keep reading!

A different version of "Jesus Loves Me"

Today Elizabeth decided to change the words to her favorite song (the one she sings so loudly during church services that people from all around the church turn and look and then smile as if to say, "How cute."). Shane got back from Sonic with our cokes (We usually don't go to Sonic every day, but since Granbarry was treating...), and Elizabeth started singing the tune to "Jesus loves me." However, we only THOUGHT she was singing "Jesus loves me" because instead of saying, "Jesus loves ME," she ended with "Jesus loves MOMMY'S COKES."

I guess it's time for me to cut back on the caffeine?!!

Living this crazy life

This week has been CRAZY.

Elizabeth and I went to Houston this weekend for two birthday celebrations--my sister's and dad's on one night and my niece Shaelyn's on another. Friday, E and I made it to Houston in time to visit my mom at her school. She's beginning her second year at public school and last year since I taught on Friday, I was never able to get away. This semester, though, Friday is my day home with Elizabeth so we got to leave early and make it to her school in time to get the tour, meet the other teachers, and see her classroom. It's so cute how all those first-graders just doted on Elizabeth. They seem to like feeling "big" around somebody. Maybe that's why so many kids that age love younger kids. It's cute.

After that, I took Elizabeth to the park in my parent's neighborhood (the same one I used to go to as a little girl). It's a great playground with really safe equipment and completely shaded by pine trees. Elizabeth loved it. Then we went to my parent's house and waited for the others to arrive.

We ended up having a really good weekend with all the family (sans Anthony and Shane--missed you guys!). Shane couldn't come because Shaelyn's birthday was on Sunday and well, Shane, is a little busy on that day. Elizabeth loves playing with her cousins: "Bettitt (Barrett), "Bookin' (Brooklyn), Jackson, and Shaelyn.

E and I headed back to Gatesville on Sunday after the party. She slept most of the way (whew!) and was quite disappointed (and a little distraught) when we got home and Daddy was not here. He had left for Abilene earlier in the day for ACU's Lectureship. So, it was me and Elizabeth until Wednesday when he got back home. Only, it wasn't that simple. Elizabeth ended up getting a "fever virus" on Monday evening and was running a fever of 103. She and I were up most of the night on Monday, and since she couldn't go to the babysitter's on Tuesday, I cancelled my classes and stayed home with her. This was the first time I had to cancel my classes, but it's nice to have a flexible job so that I can do so. Then on Wednesday, I got sick with a headache and pain in my left side, which has lasted through today. I'm going to the doctor next week for this, so we'll see what's going on there. I hope I get to feeling better soon because Shane was just given tickets to the Longhorns game this weekend and we're planning on going. We haven't been since we were dating (when he had season tickets) and are excited to see Colt McCoy live in action. Granbarry is going to hang with our girl. Granna left this week for Russia and will be gone for two months. Elizabeth isn't going to understand why her Granna isn't there when we get to their house. Earlier this week, she said, "I go to 'Gana's' house," and I told her, "Granna is leaving for Russia and will be gone for two months. We're going to miss her, aren't we?" She responded, "She needs to take me with her!" And I said, "But Mommy and Daddy will miss you if you are gone for two months. That's a long time to be away." She wasn't sure what to say. At least it was a dilemma for her and she didn't just say, "I go with her" (Because we know how much she LOVES her Granna!).

Tagged

I've been tagged by Chesley for a different kind of Q&A: "The Game of Tag about your MAN"

1. Who is your man? Shane Peyton Alexander
2. How long have you been together? 6 years, 5 of them married (We were engaged in less than 6 months! That’s another story)
3. How long dated? 10 ½ months
4. How old is your man? 30
5. Who eats more? Shane eats a lot, but he doesn’t snack at all; whereas I’ll eat my meal and then have snacks all day (but I’m also pregnant, so that’s my excuse now).
6. Who said "I love you" first?He did. We were sitting on the couch about to go visit some of his family for the first time and he said it. I didn’t say it back on the time (He still reminds me of that!), but I said it in the next few days.
7. Who is taller? Shane (not Cody!--He's my cousin!) is 6'3, I'm 5'4
8. Who sings better? Shane, hands down. I like to sing, and I try really hard, but I can’t carry a tune. I sing off-key. And I have bad hearing. All of which work against me!
9. Who is smarter? Hmm. I would say that Shane is. His is natural whereas mine comes from discipline and hard work. I made better grades in school, but that doesn’t make people smarter.
10. Who's temper is worse? I think mine is. It’s that Irish blood in me.
11. Who does the laundry? ME!!! He doesn’t mind doing it, per se, but he waits and waits and waits until he runs out of boxers, which never happens when you have a two-year-old and have to do it every week! Ha!
12. Who takes out the garbage? Shane
13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I sleep on whatever side is closest to the bathroom. Even when I’m not pregnant, I have to go to the bathroom all night because I drink so much water late in the evening. Shouldn’t I have learned by now?
14. Who pays the bills? Our bank—automatic withdrawals! I right the checks and keep track of the money. We’ve gone to a cash envelope system, and since I usually spend the money, I keep track of it. I think he may take over this job at the end of the year, though.
15. Who is better with the computer? We’re both pretty good. Since I teach web design, graphic design, visual design, and writing on the computer, I’ve stayed up with it. Shane loves to learn it, too, though. He created the logo for our new church, helped design the brochure (with the rest of us), and wants me to teach him Dreamweaver web program. He is also much more of a computer gamer than me.
16. Who mows the lawn? Always Shane…at least when we had a lawn (right now we’re living in a townhome), and when it wasn’t raining all summer (like it did this summer)! I had my fill of mowing growing up when I always mowed our lawn, which was really, really large.
17. Who cooks dinner? Me, especially in this temporary place where the oven is way off and the burners are tilted so nothing cooks evenly. Shane does all the grilling, however…only after I’ve already prepared it. We both like it, though.
18. Who drives when you are together? Usually him, unless we’re driving into town on a Sunday morning and he has to get ready for his sermon, or if I’m just wanting to drive. I’m a much faster driver, and sometimes I just want to get there in a reasonable amount of time!
19. Who pays when you go out? Me, now that I have all the cash!
20. Who is most stubborn? We are both really stubborn (so is our daughter!), but he’s more likely to give in.
21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Neither of us like to admit it when we’re wrong, and most likely we still hold to our opinion in the end, but we do tend to move on and forget and forgive.
22. Whose parents do you see the most? Shane’s parents since they live the closest and both of my parents work (and one of them works in DC!).
23. Who kissed who first? He kissed me first. I was NOT going to kiss him first!
24. Who asked who out? Long, fun story, but he asked me out first. We went to dinner at Cotton Patch Café in Abilene and then to see Planet of the Apes at the movie theater.
25. Who proposed? Are you kidding me? I’m not Monica on Friends (even though I thought her proposal was very romantic). Shane proposed to me in Albany, Texas (where the great steakhouse is) in a white gazebo on He is sthe courthouse lawn.
26. Who is more sensitive? We both are.
27. Who has more friends? We have about the same number.
28. Who has more siblings? Me. I have 3 siblings and 3 sibling-in-laws; he has two siblings and 1 sibling-in-law.
29. Who wears the pants in the family? Odd question. I really think we make decisions equally, although he may have a different answer!
30. What do you love most about your husband? He loves God, loves me, and loves Elizabeth, all unconditionally. What more could I ask for?

I want to tag Shane, but his answers to almost every question would be the exact same thing. But I’m tagging him anyway to see what he answers to certain questions! I guess you'll have to change everything to "WOMAN" rather than "MAN"!

I also tag:
Kim
Kellee
Anita

Shopping for Dolls

Yesterday I went to KB Toys to get birthday presents for two of my nieces. My niece Eleanor (Shane's brother Brent's daughter) is turning one this month, and I wanted to get her a doll for her birthday. I began looking at all the dolls in hopes of finding one that resembled her a little bit. What I found was VERY disappointing, and I am going to write the toy companies to make them aware of this situation.

Eleanor is an adorable little girl whose mom is Asian-American (born in Taiwan and migrated when she was five) and whose dad is well, Shane's brother, white. So, Eleanor's skin is a little darker than Elizabeth's and her eyes are a beautiful dark shade of brown. She has a beautiful complexion, which we're all jealous of. So I began looking at all the doll choices and only found two: an extensive collection of white dolls, all of which had blue eyes, or a few African-American dolls, neither of which fit my purposes.

First of all, I could NOT believe that there were not any white dolls that did not contain blue eyes (how's that for all those double negatives?). I, for one, have brown eyes and most all my immediate family has brown eyes. Now that I am married into the "Family of Blue Eyes (literally EVERYBODY has blue eyes, including my own daughter), I'd never noticed that all of the white dolls in stores have blue eyes. Has anyone else noticed this? Where are the green eyes, hazel eyes, black eyes, grey eyes, and all the other beautiful colors we have? They make it seem as if every little girl who doesn't have blue eyes should wish she did have blue eyes. Because aren't the dolls supposed to be the most beautiful representation of humankind and they all have blue eyes?!! Duh!!

Second, I find it troubling that the only two choices for dolls are white or African-American. Don't get me wrong; I'm glad there are at least TWO choices when there used to be only one. But what about all those other people who do NOT have blue eyes and are NOT dark-skinned? What kinds of dolls can little girls like Eleanor find to love and cuddle? What about my next child who may have brown eyes? There aren't many choices for children (even though we claim to be such a diverse society).

Distraught, I left the aisle full of hundreds of different types of dolls (all white with blue eyes and a few African-American ones, of course) and wondered what I was going to do. Every little girl needs a doll! So I kept walking around and finally saw one more doll. I decided to get this one for Eleanor, even though it's not an Asian baby and even though it doesn't have dark eyes like Eleanor, and even though the skin is darker than her skin. The baby I found is actually a Hispanic baby doll. The only way I could tell was because the entire box is written in Spanish. So, I hope that this baby doll will suffice until I find another one worthy of Eleanor's beauty.

Sporadic posts

So, I haven't been posting very much lately. Unlike last year, it isn't because the school year has started at Baylor. This time, it's because I'm having a baby! Yep! I am actually quite far along (10 weeks already) and have been feeling pretty awful almost the whole time. So that's my excuse for so few posts lately. As soon as I'm out of this first trimester, I hope that I'll feel better and post more often.

We are really excited about this one (and it also doesn't hurt any that this one is going much quicker than the first one--yea!!). The due date is April 8, right in the midst of tax season for many of my in-laws (sorry, guys!), but good timing for me so I can be home all summer with the little one. Elizabeth is especially excited. Yesterday she came up to me and said, "Mommy, I want the baby to come out and play with me." She hugs the baby (my tummy) every night before she goes to bed, and she prays for him/her, too. She talks to my tummy and says, "Hi, baby. I'm your big sister, and I love you." She's going to be a wonderful big sister. She sure is sweet.

We've already seen the baby on the ultrasound and everything looks good. We are appreciative of that. Keep me and the baby in your prayers! We'll keep you posted with the developments!

Labor Day Weekend

We had a fun Labor Day weekend. Thursday night, Shane's parents came up and stayed with Elizabeth on Friday and Friday night. I had to go in for a faculty meeting (Friday is my day with Elizabeth), and then that night we had a dinner for the faculty in my department and so Shane and I went to that. We had a good time and almost went to the movies afterwards to take advantage of our time, but we wouldn't have gotten home until well after 1 p.m., and I can't make those late nights anymore now that I get up by 6 a.m. every day.

Saturday, we drove to Temple for a family reunion with my dad's side of the family. We had a great time seeing everyone and visiting with people. I did find out that it's a small world because my cousing Lyndsay is dating a guy (Jeremy Sprott--any of you remember him?!) who attended ACU with me my freshman year. But I got to see them, so that was neat.

The kids had a good time playing around. The dessert table was right at their level, so Elizabeth kept sneaking chocolate and cookies and other goodies. Ha! They also had a good time playing in the cemetery out behind the church. Elizabeth even saw some pretty flowers and picked them up and took off running. My sister Kim got a really funny picture of it, and the memory makes me giggle.

After that, we came back home with my parents and my brother Kurt's kids. They spent the night with us and Elizabeth enjoyed hanging out with Nana and Teddy and Jackson and Shaelyn. She couldn't stop telling Teddy, "Teddy, look at my BIG GIRL PANTIES!" over and over and over. I also discovered that she's a little sensitive. Shaelyn was going to sleep in her room with her and then at the last minute she wanted to sleep in Nana's room. So, we moved the pallet to the other room and Elizabeth couldn't stop crying. I went up to check on her because I could tell she was so distraught and I asked her what the matter was and she said, "I want Shaelyn to sleep in my room." It really hurt her feelings that Shaelyn didn't want to sleep with her. I told her that she was probably scared and wanted Nana, but it didn't seem to help. Poor girl!

It sure is interesting getting 3 kids who are 2 and under ready for church on Sunday. I always get Elizabeth ready by myself because Shane goes up to the building really early, but it's very different with 3. Mom and I barely made it in time (but Teddy was able to make 2 coffee runs in the meanwhile!!). Ha!

Elizabeth's new thing is to break out into song right now. I mentioned that she loves to sing, but this has gone to even new levels lately. Her favorite song right now is "Jesus loves me." What's interesting is that when she sings it, she SCREAMS the words. She was even so loud in church on Sunday that our song leader ended up changing the closing song to "Jesus loves me" because "out of the mouths of babes" and "we should all think such pure, sweet thoughts as children." Too funny. I think Elizabeth is going to be a HUGE asset to us with church planting. She has no qualms about talking about Jesus...or shouting out songs as we walk around the neighborhood. :)

Happy Birthday, Kara

A link to The Top 10 "I Was Wrong Admissions" in Five Plus Years of Marriage...

Shane

School has started

This is the first time since I can remember that college has started before public schools. I know it's not the case everywhere, but here at Baylor we started on Monday. I didn't even realize we were starting this early until a few weeks ago and so I have been frantically scrambling to put together syllabi, assignments, and readings. It's been a crazy few weeks in terms of school, that's for sure!

I'm teaching on Tues/Thur this semester, which I absolutely LOVE--not because of the two day a week schedule (although that's nice, too), but because the hour and a half classes fit writing courses much better than the 50 minute ones. I'm teaching two courses, which I taught last year, and so this go-around hasn't been as difficult since I've already taught them at least once. So, we're off to a good start.

Elizabeth is as sweet as ever. She has started talking to herself in third person, and it is really cute. The other day she was sitting in the chair at my desk coloring and was bending over to get a crayon and almost fell out of the chair. At the same time, she says, "Whoa, Whee-Biz." (Note that "Elizabeth" is a very hard word for young toddlers to say and so she has commenced to calling herself "Whee-Biz." When we call her "Whee-Biz," she replies, "No, I'm Whee-Biz." :)

Lately, Elizabeth has wanted to "cook dinner" (no matter what time of day or what meal we're about to eat!). She loves to help out and be useful. She will pull one of the kitchen chairs over to the counter and do whatever needs to be done. She also loves to help bring in the groceries and put them where they go. She even wants to help with the laundry. She hasn't quite gotten the picking up thing down, but I don't think that's too far off (we have to do better at it first!!).

Things with the church plant are coming along nicely. We are still in Gatesville until December and then we move to Waco. So, that means that this is my last semester of commuting to Baylor. Yippee!! It really hasn't been too bad. I have a lot of time to get ready for the transition from home to work or work to home, whichever the case may be. I listen to books on tape or to the radio, which is nice. And I really like driving. Growing up, many of you know that we lived about 30 minutes from our school and our church--30 minutes without traffic, that is! Most of the time it took between 45 minutes to one hour, except on Sundays when the traffic was pretty light. So, the driving part hasn't been as bad as I thought (and for the fact that I only come in 3 days a week!).

Well, we had a nice, enjoyable summer. I enjoyed being home (even though I had a sabbatical and had to research/write a lot). We got to spend a lot of time together and do some fun things. I'm actually very tan right now, mainly from our trip to Italy, but I haven't seen my arms this brown in years (I look like so many of the college students around here who are so very dark!). Except I was actually in the sun. Ha! So, now I'm ready for a new school year and all that this year will bring. Hope you're having a fantastic day!

Rome: A few other interesting pictures

I haven't really posted yet about the Italian culture and other things, so this post is going to be dedicated to that, along with a few pictures of our visit to the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain.

Here are some observations I had:
1. When you order a pizza at a restaurant, bring your own pizza cutter. Italians don't cut their pizzas into slices. Most people eat it with a fork and knife.

2. There are more tourists in Italy than anywhere else I have seen in my entire life.

3. Toilets in Italy are different from ours in two ways: most of them do not have a toilet lid, like the one pictured below, and there are two "flushes," one big and one small. I think you can figure out when you are supposed to use each flush!


4. There are a lot of modes of transportation in Italy: train, foot, car, subway, bicycle. But the most popular one, by far, is the scooter. You have to watch out for the scooters, too, because they weave in and out and don't really pay too much attention to pedestrians. Florence was the scariest place with the scooter-drivers.

5. Air conditioning in Italy is not at all what we think of here. In most places, it's actually cooler outside than inside!!

6. Most people drink water "with gas" in Italy, rather than regular old bottled water like I drink.

7. Whenever I had difficulty speaking to an Italian in English, I would speak to them in Spanish instead, and we would have a rather pleasant conversation. I guess Spanish and Italian are so closely related that they could understand it and speak it easier than English, which we all know is a very crazy language full of all sorts of grammatical exceptions!

That's all I can think of for now. I'm sure there are others, and I'll post them when I remember them!

Here we are in front of the Trevi Fountain. It's a terrible picture (we are virtually white, and you can barely see the fountain), but when you ask others to take a picture for you, you have to know that you may not get much!!

Here's a better picture of the fountain. Once again, there were soooo many people at the fountain. Most people were sitting around eating gelato and listening to the water.

Here's a pretty courtyard we found just outside a church.
This is Bernini's elephant sculpture. I find this picture quite humorous because there I am at the very bottom of the stature. Did you even notice I was there?!!
Shane with St. Peter's in the background.

I had to get a picture in front of the famous Spanish Steps.

Rome: Vatican City

We carved out one full day to visit Vatican City, on the west side of town. We visited the Vatican Museums (after we waited in line for two long, hot hours), St. Peter's Basilica, and St. Mark's Square. This place was massive! We didn't get to visit the gardens behind the Basilica because you have to reserve like 6 months in advance.

Here is a picture of St. Peter's Basilica taken from the castle. You can see it from all over the city.

Here is the long line we waited in. We got there really early but still had to wait awhile. At least there were a few trees to keep us shaded.
Here is my cute husband. This was taken from a courtyard inside the museum.
The museum was full of statues and sculptures of popes and other religious icons. It's a tradition for Shane to take a picture like this whenever we see a sculpture. You should see the one he has with Abe Lincoln!

More sculptures. This hallway was beautiful.
We went through the "Map Room," which was filled with wall-to-wall map tapestries. I think it was my favorite room in all the Vatican (besides the Sistine Chapel of course!).

We saw the Sistine Chapel, which is in the Vatican Museum, NOT in St. Peter's Basilica. It was a huge room. What surprised us most was that it was full of people. Literally, we were all standing there shoulder to shoulder looking up at the ceiling that Michelangelo painted. No photography was allowed, and neither was talking, except for the man who kept "shooing" everyone!

After the museums, we took a shortcut over to St. Peter's Basilica. It was the one thing that was free, and it was amazing. The place it HUGE! And not just the round portico that everyone thinks of when you see it on TV. Massive! And beautiful, of course. Here is Shane right when we walked in.

And here's me.

Here is the round portico. Look how high up it is!
Here we are in front of the Basilica with our backs to St. Mark's Square.
This is the front side of St. Peter's Basilica. You can't see the basilica from this angle. If I were further back you would be able to see it.
I couldn't get all of St. Mark's Square in one picture, unfortunately, because the symmetry of it is absolutely amazing. An obelisk is in the center of the square.
We enjoyed our day at the Vatican, but we were looking forward to leaving Rome and relaxing on the train ride to Venice. See you in Venezio!

Rome: Piazza Navona and Castel Sant'Angelo

Piazza Navona was one of our favorite places in Rome. There are three neat fountains here, although Bernini's Four Rivers fountain was under construction so we didn't get to see most of it. We also walked around and looked at all the beautiful art. I bought some pieces here. There are no cars allowed in here, only people on foot. We also found a place to refill our water since it was so hot everywhere we went. Here's a picture of Shane at one end of the Piazza.

Someone trying to sell the artwork.

Right outside the Piazza was some of the best pizza we had in Italy. It was realy thick and had a great variety of ingredients on it. The two we bought were unique: one had red and yellow bell peppers and the other had spinach and potatoes. Yum-yum!

From the Piazza Navona, we walked about a mile to the Castel Sant'Angelo, a castle and fortress built by Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum for his family. Later, it became a fortress for the popes. An underground tunnel leads from the Vatican to the castle, and they would bring a pope here when his life was in danger. Today, it is a museum.

The castle is massive, but it is set down in a valley, so you can't see it from too many spots in the city, not like you can the Vatican and other big monuments.

This is the walking bridge to the castle. The bridge goes over the Tiber River.

To get to the top of the castle, first you walk up a 360 degrees circle, and then you come across a ramp that splices the castle in half. It's all very planned out and cool. The ramp Shane is standing on is the one that splices the castle in half.

Our first picture together: This was taken in the castle. The Tiber River is in the backgound. Sorry it's so dark. I guess the flash didn't go off!

We walked to the very top of the castle, and found this scuplture. You could see a lot of the city from up here at the top.

Rome: Churches, churches, and more churches

While in Italy, I think we visited at least 50 churches. We loved going into them and taking in the environment, the art, and the sculptures. When I went to France a few years ago, I loved the churches there, too, and they were pretty, just really different. Most of the churches in France had beautiful stained-glass windows, which made them unique, ornate, and beautiful. In Italy, however, there weren't many with stained-glass windows. Instead, most of them were painted with beautiful art and contained ornate sculptures. Italians sure do know how to create art.

This was the first church we went into, and we sort-of just stumbled into it after we went to the Coliseum. The outside doesn't do justice to the inside of this church, as you can see from some of the pictures below.

We also went to the Pantheon and several churches in the area. The Pantheon was originally built as a temple to the Roman gods in 125 A.D. Later, it became a Christian church, which it still is today. The architecture of this place is absolutely amazing. The tomb of Raphael is also located here. The picture below is the outside of the Pantheon. The columns are huge!

The top of the round portico was replicated by Italian architects in later designs.

This is a view looking from the Pantheon outside into the piazza.