Christmas Eve Snow 12/24/2009

We had so much fun with all the snow! It was really neat to have a White Christmas! Hope everyone had a safe and Very Merry Christmas! I know we did!

Three

That is the number of saltine crackers my lovely hubby brings me every morning before I even lift my head off the pillow. So far, it seems to help.

I guess the last week or so I have really looked like death warmed over because this morning was a good morning and I actually put on my make-up and dressed up in a skirt and boots. Marianne McCartney saw me first thing and said... Well, are you feeling better? You don't look so green this morning! HA! It felt really good to say... yes, I do feel better! Thanks for noticing Marianne, I really do appreciate it!

Thank HEAVEN for Saltine crackers! (and the wonderful man that delivers them!)

Who.. Who...

Yes... It is true, our family of three is expanding to a family of 4! We are all so excited. I've had to stay away from the blog so I didn't accidentaly on purpose share the big news. We wanted to wait until after our first Dr. appointment before we shared with others outside of the family.

I'll try to answer some of the questions I know you guys will want to know:

Due date is: July 27th, 2010 (horray! I'll be HUGE and sweaty!)

Boy or girl: Healthy, that's all that we ask.
(Byron says Healthy and a Boy. I'm thinking that a girl would be WAY easier because we already have the set up, but which ever is fine with me. I will love him or her either way!)

Have you been sick: YES, YES, YES, YES and YES!
Were you sick with B? No, not like this. I remember being tired with B, but not sick like I am with this one. It is for a REALLY good cause and that is what I tell myself when I feel like death has consumed my body.

I do have a really funny story about my sickness... (well, only funny in retrospect)
The other morning I went and got B out of her bed and carreid her into the living room for our morning snuggle and sippy cup of milk. (shhhh, don't tell Dad, but this is why we are normally 10 minutes late every morning!) Well, I got all seated in the rocker and then suddenly I didn't feel to good. So I tucked her in with her blanket and flicked on Nick Jr. to keep her occupied while I ran to the bathroom. Well, I didn't realize I had been in there for about 30 minutes and suddenly she appeared in my bathroom door, sippy cup in one hand and blanket in the other. She looked at me and said: "oh, Momma not feel good." After she said that I had another bout and had to up-chuck in the potty. Her next comment was" EEEEEWWWWWWWWWW Momma." She then very quickly vacated the premisis.



My next Doctor's appointment is on December 23rd, we will have our first sonogram then.

I'll be using my same Doctor in Decatur, Texas. For those of you doing the math.... it is about 95 miles from Throckmorton. Since we live out in the sticks this is one thing I'm not really looking forward to. BUT I have all the faith in the world in my Doc. Since my labor with B was EXTREAMLY short, we aren't going to take any chances with an hour and a half drive. I will have a scheduled enducement date. (Not something I would prefer,but since I almost had B at home... I'd rather not push my luck!)



Here is a picture of the baby belly at 6 weeks:

Byron says there isn't much there, but I on the other hand beg to differ. I am VERY well aware of the changes my body is making. I'm still in all my regular pants, but THANK GOODNESS for bella bands and those little button thingies that give you and extra inch! I've been told that you pop out a whole lot faster with your second one than you did with the first and boy howdy...that is VERY true!

When I do actually feel like eating, all I want is mexican food. Rice, chips, hot sauce, really anything mexican. I also am a big cereal eater again. I don't know how many boxes of total I went thru with B, but I'm pretty sure I kept Post afloat for those 9 months. This go around it is corn flakes with dab of sugar.

Looking forward to the second tri-mester, hopefully with no sickness,

Santa 2009

I'm really not sure if I even need to say anything about this picture. I'm thinking that in about 15 years she might find the humor in it.

Prayer Dolls

These are the Prayer Dolls that our Women on Missions group have made to send to Africa for the little girls there. Please pray that these little dolls will somehow bring not only joy to the children that receive them, but that they will also come to know Christ.

BING... BING BING.... BING

I know the quality of this video is kinda dark, but you can get the idea.... Baylee has discovered a little toy water gun. It goes everywhere with her now. She puts it in her purse and carries it around with her. She has even asked to take it to Church several times. (of course I had a heart attack and said no. Byron laughed.)

I know she gets this from her father... whom is fascinated with anything remotely related to guns and knives... you know... all that boy stuff. ( I guess that is the equivalent to our shoes and hand bags...)

There are only a few girls here in T-town that are Baylee's age, so she ends up playing with the boys. Luckily... she has learned to balance it all out. For instance... wearing her tutu and boots and carrying her purse with her GUN in it....

Anyway, she hasn't quite understood that guns... when fired... go BANG... or in her words... BING!

For those of you that are thinking to yourself... man, I hope she knows the difference between play guns and real guns and I sure hope she doesn't accidentally get ahold of one. Well, I assure you that my hubby is Mr. Safety. Like... he requires you take a 6-week course in gun safety before you can even look at any of his guns. Rest assured... those safety lessons are taught to our two year old too.

Put your hands up or I'll BING you!

Halloween 2009

Halloween 2009

I know this is a little late, but I say... Better late than never!

L to R: Miss Monkey (Layton Noles), Miss Princess (Ella Peacock), Captain Hook (Canon Redwine), Peter Pan (Porter Redwine), Tinker Bell (Reece Redwine), Miss Princess #2 (Leanna), Pumkin' Punk Rocker (Baylee Gray), Mr. Dinosaur (Tyler Whitfield), Luke Skywalker (Luke Walker).

We all met up at "Roots" and loaded up on sugar then were off to the VFD Halloween Carnival for some chili and games. For the first time since Byron and I have been married, we had TRICK OR TREATERS!!!!!! (well, just a few, but we still had them!)

Amanda... I'm so going to get a gorilla suit for next year. I'm thinking overalls and a rocking chair on the front porch.... What do you think?

Trick and Treated

but didn't smell any feet,

JJ this one is for you....Thank you for what you have given me!

I want to take a few minutes and share a few thoughts with everyone.

The pictures that follow capture the very essence of my life. This child, this gift from Our Father reminds me every moment of everyday of what God's Grace is. His Grace is innocence, love, faithfulness, fulfillment. When I look at her that is what I see.

These pictures are a window into my daily journey with God. Please journey with me...

Family Pictures 2009

These are just a few of my favorites. Let me know which ones everyone loves. I have ALLOT more. I hate to spoil anything, but these are what my Family & Friends Christmas presents are going to be.... so, Family.... Make sure you let me know which ones are your fav's....

Happy Harvest!!!

Lots of Love,

It's that time of year....

I just want to apologize for my lack of blogs here lately.... it seems that this change in season has hit us with lots of activities! Some of which I will share in several posts.

This weekend (and the the weekend before) we got to hang out in our back yard and pick up..... PECANS! Yes, we have THREE pecan trees on our little lot. I'm really excited about all the pecans because, well, we bake allot around our house and quite frankly... pecans at the store are EXPENSIVE and just don't taste as good! Here are some pictures of this weekend.

One of THREE trees.
Baylee helping GiGi and Dad. She really enjoyed picking up the pecans.... wonder how many more years I can squeeze out of her before she refuses to partake in this activity???? I'm betting not too many!

Round Top 2009

This weekend was a smashing success! I found LOTS of great things for my house AND for my daughter! I really enjoyed a weekend with the "Girls!"
Friday morning Brenna, Sheralynne (Brenna's mom) and I headed out and spent the WHOLE day at Round Top, making it to Warrenton late that afternoon. Saturday we tried to leave by 7 AM, but.... with a group of girls like us... we didn't get out until around 8 or after! We shopped till we dropped Saturday... or should I say until we got SOAKED from the rain!
Over all it was a great weekend. I'll post pictures of my finds as soon as I get everything hung up on the walls and my house CLEAN!
Olivia, Amber, and I after we got soaked from the rain on Saturday! We just kept on shopping after we loaded our treasures into Amber's Jimmy!

Anne & Olivia sporting their "nerd" glasses. I can't remember the kids name off of "little giants", but they totally look like him!

Potty Training 101...

To start off... we both survived.

We have completed week number 1. Last Saturday morning (9-19-09) I decided I'd had enough buying, changing, packing and making sure the diaper bag was in order. So... I put "big girl" panties on her and our potty training journey began.

I know my timing and methods were and are a little unconventional and most of the time my "just rip the band-aid off quickly" approach back fires... but hey, if it works it works! It was a little rocky at first... and I wanted to shoot myself... and there were several "come to Jesus" moments for me where I truly saw the graces of God. I don't say this in a sarcastic tone, I truly believe that God was was on my side and gave me the strength to hold my ground and push through.

If you haven't picked up on it yet, my daughter is VERY independent and strong willed. (I have no idea where she gets this??!!) I absolutely love this quality of hers, yet sometimes it makes for very interesting events around our house. This is one of them.

If I told you every story and thought I had through this first week, we would literally be here for an entire lifetime, so I'll only share a few that bring the biggest smiles to my face.

Saturday: Our first accident.

I had put her in her booster seat at the kitchen table. She was happily devouring a bowl of spaghetti-o's. All of a sudden she yelled at me and said: Momma, I WET, I WET! About the time I turned around from the sink I saw the "wetness" dripping down from the high chair and puddling on the floor underneath the chair.

My first thought was: oh, no... what do I do????? (this would be where I was talking to God)

I sprang into action. I pulled her out of the chair and calmly we went off to the bathroom. I let her sit on the potty and explained that big girl panties weren't like pull-ups. If you tee tee in them you will get all wet and icky. She agreed that she didn't like icky. We got all cleaned up and headed back to the kitchen to clean up the rest of the mess.

She sat in another chair and offered her support while I soaked up the mess with paper towels, bleached the booster seat and the chair it was attached too and mopped the floor.

I had just finished putting up the mop and was going to bend down and and attach the last strap of the booster seat and when I did... I hit the bowl of spaghetti-o's she had enjoyed so much earlier and it went flying... like, I could have sworn that bowl had wings... It flew REAL high. The only problem with something flying that high was the fact that at some point it had to land. And land it did.... all over the booster seat, chair and floor I had just bleached and mopped.

This would be the part where I mentioned earlier that I had several "come to Jesus" moments. This would be what I was talking about. I could have lost my sanity right then, but instead of bursting into tears in that very moment... I turned and looked into the bluest eyes (well, besides her dad's) and we both died laughing. I mean hysterical laughing. (this is what I describe as God's Grace.)

So, we cleaned again and entered that afternoon fearless of what was to come in our potty training 101 class.

Something I have learned thus far is that the child isn't the only one that gets trained. The parents do too. Here are several things I have found on our little life adventure:

-you have to train yourself to ask your child if he/she has to go potty... at least every 10-15 minutes. After about two days of this... you will wake up in the middle of the night from a nightmare of "do you need to go potty... do you need to go potty... do you need to go potty... do you need to go potty... do you need to go potty... do you need to go potty????" B now answers me most of the time with "NO Momma... I not need to go potty!!!" (sometimes she even points her finger at me and says this!)

-Potty time is private time... regardless of how old you are. After a few arguments we finally found our rhythm... I help her get onto the potty and then I have to leave AND shut the door. After I finally translated her 2-year old language the first couple of times I figured out she was saying.." momma, you doe... and shut da door." I have to admit... I was apprehensive at first... You know... leaving a two year old in the bathroom... on the potty... by herself. But, it turned out okay. When she is finished with her "business" she says: O-tay Momma, you tum in now. I frew.

-Prayer is important. You HAVE to take this journey with God. Lets just face it... It isn't nearly as enjoyable if you leave him out. If you didn't have him, you wouldn't appreciate the humor.

In about 16 years... B is going to read this blog and want to shoot me.

My baby girl is growing up too fast,

Ashley

AG California

In Flight

Walking on Cloud Nine

Jammin' out to the IPod

I can't hear you!

This is often the response I get when the camera comes out.

I call this one... Digging for Gold.

Baylee and Mom on the plane... Not too sure what is going on with my hand... strange, I know.

Byron sat one row in front of us and pretended like he didn't now us.

I see the OCEAN!!!

The birthday boy... in the car... on the phone... blind folded... not knowing his surprise is waiting patiently outside the window.

Oh, the things we do to our fathers! HA!

Baylee and her "Uncle Bubba"

One of my favorite pictures. Sail boats in Pismo Beach

Bay-watch babe!

This is the picture I snapped right before she busted her crust and fell into the cold, cold water. She spent the rest of this trip to the beach wrapped up in a towel in PawPaw's arms!

Us three Gray's...

Dad & Rhonda

Going to the Beach Check list:

Orange Swim shorts: CHECK

Blue Texas A&M T-shirt: CHECK

Cowboy Boots: CHECK

Hat: CHECK

Classic Byron, just classic.

Thanks for reminding me just how redneck you really are.

I've really got to start letting you out more! HA!

He wears short shorts! HA! The water was FREEZING! I stepped in for about 10 seconds and my ankles had flash backs of high school days of icing them ... that was all I could stand, but not Byron. He was like a kid in a candy store. I really think he would have stayed out there forever!

Yea, this is the face you are going to get from now on Mom when you ask me to smile for that dumb camera! I'm NOT going to do it!

This stuff is SO cool! Let me throw it everywhere!

What you don't see is her sitting on my other flip flop because she didn't want to get dirty...

Every once in a while a blind squirrel will find a nut... no, wait... I mean a french fry? What?

Jackpot! Elephant Seals!!

Elephant Seals just Chillin'

Elephant Seal coming out of the water!

Heaven, just Heaven.

Ahh... this is what I live for... views like this!

Starfish: Sunning

Starfish: Underwater