A Merry Little Christmas

I always love this time of year and celebrating Christmas with family and friends. Besides keeping up with my roles of wifey and Blake's mommy I tend to take on extra projects and activities during this time of year. They are never a burden and I enjoy each moment and the busyness. I realize others may not care for being busy and how hectic this time of year can be, but I guess the extrovert part of me thrives on it.

At the beginning of the month I was able to attend the Christmas party at my former school where I taught for four years. I have also made it a tradition to bring by cookies to my former coworkers before Christmas break. The first thing the music teacher said the year I announced I was not returning after having my baby was, "Who is going to make us cookies?" So far I have kept up the tradition of bringing them cookies for two years. Plus it is a good reason to come by, visit, and catch up with everyone.

 A few days before Christmas Blake got the cutest set of tiny books in the mail from a relative. I don't have much else to say about that, but I had to post the picture. I just love my little book worm!

 

 I was a little bit late getting Blake in to see Santa this year. I knew he wasn't going to like it, so here is my unhappy baby taking his picture with Santa.

This year I decided to take on a project to make something for my grandmother. During the spring I saw a pin on Pinterest around Mother's day showing how this lady made a present for her mother who had several grandchildren. I pinned the pin and was determined to make one as a Christmas gift for my grandmother of all her great grandchildren. Here is how that turned out.

 

Christmas Eve was spent with my grandmother, her five children plus spouses, her twelve grandchildren plus spouses, along with most of the great grandchildren.  We had to reserve the Family Life Center at our church in order to accommodate that many people. I failed to take any pictures, but I had a good time visiting with everyone, played Dirty Santa and won a Starbucks gift card.

Christmas morning was a little more exciting this year since Blake seemed to understand that there were (presents) new books for him to look at and read.

Two hours later he eventually tore off the wrapping paper on the box which is next to him on the couch :) I look forward to him comprehending more and being more involved as he gets older.

My sister and I along with our families went over to my parent's house for Christmas lunch and more presents. Yet again, I did a poor job remembering to take pictures, but here is a nice Christmas picture of my sister and me plus the hubbies and children.

 I really try to not make a habit of showing off my presents on the Internet, but at least this isn't on Facebook. Here is an unexpected gift from my hubby: A Snow White Cookie Jar. She is simply gorgeous! Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs has to be one of my favorite classic Disney animated films. I also have a ceramic figurine set that I hope to display in a china  cabinet one day. For now I will just have to settle for staring at this gorgeous piece every day in my kitchen.

That has been most of our activities thus far for the Christmas season. We still have more relatives to visit and presents to give which will probably leak over into the new year. For now I am probably signing off for the remainder of 2013. Happy New Year and God bless!

Snow day fun

In Oklahoma a snow day doesn't necessarily mean the ground is covered in snow. Rather, snow fell from the sky and the roads have become an icy mess which are undesirable to use for traveling in a car. None the less our church cancelled services this morning and we got to stay inside our cozy house all day.

I didn't think much of our activities from today until I saw a friend post on Facebook that they had used their snow day to bake cookies. We spent some time in our kitchen too. Actually it went something like this:

I made pumpkin spice waffles for breakfast.
My husband brewed a small batch of beer.
I made Hawaiian Roll Ham and Swiss sliders for lunch.
I made pumpkin cookies with cream cheese frosting.
My husband made pepperoni rolls for dinner.
I made pumpkin dip for a potluck for Bob's work tomorrow.
And Bob browned some hamburger meat to get ready for the taco soup he's taking to work in the morning.

Whew!!! I guess we both don't mind spending time in the kitchen. At least that's what we chose to do with our lazy day we had ahead of us.

What do you enjoy doing when you're stuck in the house on a "snow day"?

Containment

Ever since our little boy has become mobile there has been an ever increasing effort to keep him contained within a room and not be able to escape (get into things he shouldn't be getting into). We felt comfortable having the kitchen completely closed off and letting him have free reign over the living room and dining room area...until recently. The other night I posted this picture on Facebook.

Here is what prompted that set up.

  

 Keeping the chairs pushed in did not help at all. He would just crawl under the table, push the chair out, climb into the chair, and then climb on top of the table! When I first caught him I just thought he was having a good ole time pushing the chairs around in the kitchen and I went in there to check and there he was on top of the table. Our sweet monkey boy just wants to climb everything. Now it is just a matter of training mom and dad with the new system. One of us forgot to replace our chair after a meal and he promptly went over to climb in it.

Happy 1st Birthday!

Labor Day weekend we celebrated Blake's first birthday. It has been an incredible year of changes and firsts.

For his birthday we did another photo session at JCP and purchased the CD this time, so I can legally share the pictures here on the blog.

Here is a collage I had them make up. It's only 9 pictures. The first two rows are 1-6 months and the bottom row is 8, 11, and 12. I think 5 months old is the chunkiest he's ever been because he's always been so tall. Once he would start to get chunky he would grow some more in length :( We have tall baby problems over here at our house. Also, his jersey for his 12 month picture actually has a 12 on it. That was a lucky coincidence.

 And here is a new born picture just to compare some more.

 We invited both sides of our families over to eat lunch and watch a ceremonial cake smashing and present opening event. We opted for a banana pudding cupcake from a bakery in More called Baked! Bananas seemed safe since he likes eating them and anything super sweet he really doesn't care for and we were wanting a guaranteed cake smashing  to go down. And our little boy delivered.

It has been such a busy year. We can't believe our baby is one year old already. Happy birthday Mr. Blake!

From today's walk

On most days when the weather is cooperating I usually go on a walk in our neighborhood with my little man in his stroller. It has been a nice little routine that usually induces a nap for him during and afterward.

Today I went around noon and it was a very unseasonably cool August afternoon in Oklahoma. I noticed some girls at the end of our block playing in the front yard. What caught my attention was their art work of sidewalk chalk all over their sidewalk and driveway. I asked them if I could take a picture of it and assured them I was trying to not be a creeper, but I really did liked their pictures. Tomorrow will be their first day of a new school year. They seemed to be soaking up the last few hours of summer. They were really sweet and asked about my baby and I asked them if they had art class at their school (no, they don't...for shame MPS). I know they were just drawing doodles, but I thought the pictures were pretty good, cute at least.

Yes, that would be Ariel, the mermaid and a Canadian flag. They also had a British flag on the sidewalk and lots more drawings, but I was trying to not come across as a creeper, so I did not get an incredible look at all of it.

Speaking of walks. Our little man is taking a few more by himself these days: from couch to couch, and across the room. Here is our best video of him walking from the couch to the rocking chair. This was taken on Tuesday and he has even gotten better since then.

Mom World

I love being a mommy. Yes it has been lots of change and adjustment being a first time mother, but I really do enjoy it. One thing I don't feel I was fairly warned about was Mom World. (Yes I totally made that term up). Mom World (to me at least) is where you encounter other moms whether it is in real life conversation or merely observation via the internet, Facebook, etc. Mom world can be okay sometimes and at times pleasant. I do enjoy having friends who are going through some of the same things and who share ideas and advice that has been helpful to them.Then there are other times where it is down right scary. The scariness mostly happens on the internet through people I don't even know (thank goodness!).

I understand the need to talk with other moms and ask about things they are doing and what works for them in certain situations. But the other day I was scrolling through a new mom group on Facebook that someone I hardly know added me into it. And no, this is not the same group that some of my readers on here are a part of, I promise :). I found a thread of someone asking for a pediatrician recommendation and the comments were getting pretty ridiculous. It was to the point where I couldn't tell if these ladies were being sarcastic or if they were being dead serious. I really need to just remove myself from that group because if I really want help or advice, a social group of people I don't know on the internet is not going to be where I get my information.

Besides the internet crazies out there, Mom World isn't that bad, but it can sure sneak up on you and catch you off guard sometimes. I know moms tend to talk a lot about what they do with their little one because that has totally consumed their world, therefore that is what they tend to talk about. My thoughts ran away with me the other day and I started pondering: what if we talked about the way we cleaned our bathrooms the same way we talk about what we do with our children? For one, people would think you are strangely excited about cleaning your bathroom or they might pick up on some good cleaning tips. I began to think that Mom World can kind of be like that at times. We are really involved and consumed with our children and people may not understand that, or they might pick up some helpful tips.

 I did get a break from Mom World and being a mommy a few weeks ago. I went to the NKOTB concert when they came to OKC at the end of June and I invited a non-mom friend. We had a wonderful time reliving some old childhood memories. Since Blake was not feeling well for most of that week I forgot to even post about it.

Of course I can't end this post without sharing something from Mom World. I thought Blake was finished with the packaged baby foods we had been feeding him. His pediatrician even warned us that one day he would just stop eating baby food and only want table food, probably right after we go to the store and buy him a bunch of the baby food :) I was having a difficult time getting him to take his baby food and he would get really upset and frustrated! Turns out he just wanted to hold the spoon too!

Now Blake continues to eat squash, sweet potatoes, apples, bananas, and carrots...as long as he has a spoon in his hand.

Life's Little Luxuries

Life has certainly changed with an active baby boy in the mix of things. It seems like I now take pleasure in simpler things than I used to, which I guess isn't a bad a thing at all. I just thought I'd share these simple things that have increased the quality of my life :)

The first one still surprises me, it's peanut butter! Not regular peanut butter, but White Chocolate Wonderful peanut butter! Oh, and it is wonderful! As an adult I haven't really cared for peanut butter maybe since junior high. I ate a peanut butter sandwich for lunch almost every day in grade school when I would pack my own lunch. I just think I had my fill of peanut butter for a while, not necessarily an aversion. I found this stuff less than a month ago and I am now on my third jar!

 Mostly I eat it straight off of a spoon or spread it on a graham cracker. If I kept celery around I guess that would be a good idea too.

The second luxury I have recently discovered is a bath soak (not to be confused with bath salts). I usually shop at Bath and Body Works for their lotion, body sprays, sanitizers, and hand soaps. Shortly after Christmas I was reminded about the stress relief line of products from Bath and Body works when we stayed at a cabin with Bob's family over the holiday and the lady that owned it stocked the bathroom with some of stress relief  products. I guess she was trying to be conducive to a relaxing environment :) The next time I went to Bath and Body Works I checked out that section I had forgotten about and found a jar of bath soak and purchased it.

I was once told you are not supposed to put real bubble bath in a jetted tub. Is it true? I'm not sure, but I have been reluctant to put real bubble bath in my jetted tub, but I wanted something to use while taking a bath.Oh my goodness, this is the product! I use my jetted tub more frequently now that I have this. If you know someone who claims they don't use their jetted tub, it's because they don't know about this product :)

It is completely relaxing and the eucalyptus and spearmint fragrance is intoxicating. Running the jets also enhances the experience. Notice the picture is a full bottle, that is because it is on stand by for when my current bottle becomes empty, which will be very soon.

Those are just two of my new favorite discoveries from this year. Enjoy!

Family Night & Date Night

We had a lot of weekend of fun this past weekend.

Friday night Bob's medical group had family night at a Red Hawks baseball game. Normally, I think I would not have just decided: Hey, let's take a 9 month old to a baseball game at seven o'clock at night! Since Bob does have a little bit of a leadership position at work we decided to try it and show up for a bit.

Since we were headed to Bricktown and it has been a while since we've been there we decided to eat at Fuzzy's Taco right before the game. Blake is enjoying some beans and rice on the left. Then on the right you can see a nice lady behind us (in the gray shirt) photo bombing us! LOL! Bob says she must watch the Ellen show or something since they make photo bombing a sport.

Anyway, I think we only managed to stay through the 4th inning, but it was fun being in Bricktown on a Friday evening.

Saturday night we had a date night out while Mr. Blake went to bed for the night. We did actually pay a babysitter. It was nice to just go out and be the two of us again. We kept it simple and ate at a local sports bar, Louie's.

Then Sunday was Father's day and the two boys shared a nap on the couch. Overall a very enjoyable weekend.

Friday Funnies

I feel the need for a more light hearted post.

Here are a few picks of our boy having a good 'ole time in his high chair.

 I'm loving the cheerio stuck to his face.

And here he has rubbed chicken in his hair!

Loving our silly boy!

Missed it by a mile...

*****DISCLAIMER
First, I would like to say that I am one of the more fortunate people as I observe the people around me; my family, friends, and community. I am in no way complaining. I do feel that by typing out this post it will be therapeutic for me. Being so close to the vicinity of the direct path of the tornado on May 20th has impacted my life even though I am beyond blessed to have no physical losses because of the storm.
I know and have seen the people who are not so fortunate. This post is not meant to diminish what they are going through. This may not even be what they need to read right now. That's why it's on my personal blog. Like Oprah Winfrey says, "Everyone has a story". This is mine. People don't have to read this.
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For those who are still with me reading this, thank you for your time.

"Missed it by a mile" In our culture this saying is used to communicate that you were a long ways off from something. However, in our part of the country, "tornado alley" being missed by a mile from a powerful tornado is too close for comfort.

I found myself and most of my family in this situation, yet again on Monday afternoon, but my story doesn't begin here.

I was born in Oklahoma. However, from ages 5-11 I lived just outside of Houston, TX only a 30 minute drive from Galveston. That is where I received my knowledge about Hurricane weather and survival. My mother's entire extended family has always lived in Oklahoma and we would come back and visit. When there was a threat of a hurricane we flew into OKC  from Houston to get out of the path. I also recall a time when we were just visiting Oklahoma and there was a strong storm coming through, so we went to my great aunt's house about a mile from my grandmother's house because she had a storm shelter below ground.

August 1994, age 11 is when my family returned to Oklahoma. Becoming acclimated to the ever changing weather was challenging and took some trouble shooting. Coming from Houston, I had not owned a winter coat since I was four years old and I was adjusted to a constant warm and humid climate. In Houston I knew when it was raining outside because it looked like buckets of water were being dumped from the sky and there was nothing severe about it unless it lasted for days or weeks. Here in Oklahoma I would look outside and couldn't even tell it was raining at times. Fall, brought on allergies I didn't even know I had. Winter, we froze to death (or so we thought).

Then, springtime rolls around and I began noticing that the television stations would occasionally interrupt programming to give reports about severe weather effecting the area. At first this seemed to be bothersome, especially to a 12 year old. Eventually, I began to understand the need for this and became well versed in the differences between a thunderstorm warning, thunderstorm watch,  tornado warning, and  tornado watch. I knew which part of the map we were on and could easily determine if it was headed our way or not.

I don't recall hardly any times where I had to take shelter because of a tornado between 1995-1998.There may have been small tornadoes that went through towns that I had never even heard of. Coming from Houston, I was not well versed in the small towns of our state (that came later in college). I knew Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and Lawton that was about it.

May 3, 1999 

I was 16 years old, a sophomore at Westmoore High School. I don't remember the school part of the day, I guess it just started like a normal day. After school I went to work. I had a part time job filing for a doctor's office near Southwest Medical Center. In the break room they had the television on and they were reporting on severe weather coming into the area. At first I was just expecting a thunderstorm on the way home, even though it was sunny outside. Usually I would get to leave at 5:30, but that day I think they tried to let us leave as soon as possible. If I remember correctly, I got to leave at 5pm. I remember walking outside when I left and it just felt weird. Minutes ago it had been sunny, but it appeared dark in the distance and the air was warm.

I had to drive home about 5 miles south, we lived less than a mile from my school. I noticed people on the road were in a bigger hurry than usual trying to get home before the storm and I saw a ton of cars at my school. I get home and my mom had my twin mattress in the bathroom and her and my dad were standing there deciding what to do. Clearly, all three of us were not going to fit. This is when my dad decides we need to leave, NOW! He had been watching the forecast all afternoon. I mentioned there were a lot of cars at the school and maybe we could take shelter there (later that proved to be the wrong thing to do). Dad said no that's the direction the storm is headed, we need to go south. As it turned out people were at the school for scholarship night where they gave awards and announced the scholarships received by the graduating seniors.

My sister was attending college at UCO and commuting that year and she was with her boyfriend (who is now her husband) driving back from class that day. I'm not sure what they usually did, but that day they drove home to his house, which would prove to be fortunate later.

So, my parents and I got in the car, took 4th street to I-35 and headed south. Traffic was not terrible, but there were people out trying to get away as well. I'm sure we were listening to weather reports on an am radio station during our get away. As we drove south of Norman we were confident that we were out of harm's way, but now what to do? There is not much south of that area (or there wasn't then). My mom suggests going into Purcell and eating at a pizza place that she heard about from a lady at work. So that's what we did. We had to drive across their entire main street, but we found the pizza place near the end of the main road.

We walked in and the place was packed especially for a Monday night. We had to stand and wait for a table to be cleaned. Very quickly my dad begins talking to people and come to find out lots of people there came from the same area as us to get away from the storm. At this point I had no idea of how big the tornado actually was and the path it had taken. My dad was comparing with other people what they heard on the radio and they were piecing together what had happened. We ate our pizza and had been there long enough that we decided it was safe to return home. My parents probably were not sure what to expect and at the same time they were trying to prepare me. "We may not have a home to go to," they said. Which I think I didn't react because the reality had not set in at all.

We had heard on the radio that the very powerful tornado had hit Westmoore high school and had crossed I-35 and was headed toward the Tinker area. On the way home we only knew the high school had been hit and we were still not sure what that meant for us and our home. We made it back to our house and it was still standing and quickly discovered there was no electricity. With several extended family members near our area my mom immediately gets on the phone to call people to let them know we are okay. This was a time of no cell phones, but we did have a land line and one phone in the house that had one of those swirly cords. That was the only way we were able to make phone calls and get in contact with people.

Come to find out, the north side of our neighborhood had been hit by the tornado, which made our neighborhood impossible to leave or come back into. My brother lived a few blocks from us at the time and he tried to return home maybe an hour after we had gotten in and they wouldn't let him in. I think we got in touch with my sister and she was with her boyfriend and my parent's advised her that she probably shouldn't try to come back to our neighborhood just yet, so she stayed with him for a few days.

Obviously, my school was canceled the next day, but for some reason I went to work a day or two later. I took the same route I always did, north on Western Avenue right past my high school. To leave the neighborhood I had to show my ID and state my destination. They let me through, I don't know why...I wish they hadn't.

This was years before social media had hit the scene. The only pictures I had seen were from the news and media and I think they had not been able to get this close to our area yet. When I drove by the high school I saw the damage. It looked fresh and untouched. Cars were mangled and scattered across the parking lot. I could not even recognize my high school. The apartment complex across the street was leveled. It was all so unreal.

Our high school was allowed to meet at Oklahoma City Community College for the remainder of the year, although it was not required. You basically got the the grade you had on May 3rd. You had the opportunity to improve your grade, but your grade could not be hurt.

Reality was slowly setting in. The following Sunday was Mother's Day and one side of our church auditorium was filled with items that had been donated. We grieved with and comforted people who had lost everything.

By now I understood how powerful this tornado was and just how close it had been to leveling our house. We were among the fortunate. 

Fall 2001

I was a freshman in college at Southwestern Oklahoma State University (SWOSU). How did this big city girl end up  at a small town college?  I had my ACT score sent to a few universities in the state and when SWOSU came to my high school to recruit football players they pulled me out of class as well because they had my score. They talked to me about scholarship money that was available based off of my score and my grades. So I said okay, and that's where I went to college.

In Oklahoma, during Freshmen orientation they throw in somewhere the procedures for severe weather in the information packet and meetings. They told us what county we were in (that is in important to know during severe weather reporting) and explained where to take shelter in the buildings on campus. Nothing new for me, same old, same old. I came from the high school that was hit by the F5 tornado. Even so, I was still surprised when we had to take shelter in the downstairs basement in the dorm across from the girls' hall. I wasn't surprised that we had to take shelter, but it was October! That is not the prime season for severe tornado weather in Oklahoma. Anyway, down we went and we had to explain and indoctrinate the people from out of state that had no idea what was going on. Once the explanation was over we laughed, played cards, and had a good time. I think the out of state people still thought we were nuts because they were still genuinely shaken by what was going on and we were sitting around acting goofy.

When it was over we learned that there was a medium sized tornado that ripped through the town of Cordell, OK just about 30 miles from SWOSU.

2003

I remember this incident happening, but the details are very lacking (like the exact date). The tornado was powerful, but it only lasted for a few miles not impacting very many people.

One day when I was home from college (it was probably mid May when classes were finished) I was watching television in the afternoon and a severe weather threat had popped up. I was watching Gary England on News 9 and he was describing a strong tornado that was near our area. In fact it was in a similar path as the May 3rd tornado. I was the only one home because my dad went to pick up my mom at work because her car was in the shop or something. I was doubting my knowledge and skills I had about fleeing the scene by driving away in the car (like which direction to go). So, as the tornado got closer I turned the television volume up, cleaned out our hall closet, and hopped in. I could hear Gary England, then I heard what sounded like a freight train, as if it were just outside our door, then the electricity cuts out and Gary England's voice disappears. I sat in there until I could no longer hear the tornado. I emerged from the closet to find my parents just getting home. We went outside and down the street there was a giant telephone pole that had been hit and had landed on top  of a house at the end of their block. Once again, it had been another close call.

 

May 20, 2013

Time has certainly passed. I've lived in Oklahoma long enough to learn to not let the weather surprise you. Be prepared for any type of weather no matter the season. In the spring be ready to take cover from storms. In the work field some employers let their employees leave early. Being a teacher I cannot leave until the students leave. I've left early while other teachers stayed. I've stayed while other teachers left early. It's all according to how close you live and how far other people live. I've lived the furthest and I've also lived the closest.

 It was Monday, May 20th. The night before we had a hail storm and a tornado that had built up in the Norman area and went north and devastated the towns of Little Axe and Shawnee. Not shaken at all, this was all typical Oklahoma spring time weather. I even told my husband that if we had a storm shelter I still would not have gotten inside it last night (Sunday).

In the afternoon sometime after 1pm Blake was taking a nap and I had turned on the television only to see Mike Morgan on news channel 4 reporting on developing storms. The storm was developing in the Newcastle area. Now this had my attention. Any storm that develops out in that direction has my full attention because I know all too well the potential it has to make a similar path like the May 3rd tornado. He kept talking about how powerful it was becoming and heading towards sw 149th and the Moore area. I'm a mile and half south from the street he was referencing, but I looked outside and I could see the dark ominous clouds developing.

 I became a nervous mommy. I've been through tornadoes before. I've ran from them and hid in my closet, but now I have a baby. Oh yes, the baby! Blake was waking up from his nap and usually he settles himself back down, but I couldn't try to make him put himself back to sleep when a storm was brewing outside! I went and got him, held him and stayed glued to the television. I decided if things were going to go down I needed to be wearing my child. I've heard a story about a storm tearing a child from their mother's arms. That was one of the many reasons I decided to invest in a carrier/baby wearing device that I would definitely use while taking cover during a storm. Now with my baby strapped to me I decided to go get the closet ready. I brought a bunch of disposable diapers in there with me (we usually do cloth diapers at home, but I was expecting the worst here). I put on shoes and socks and cleared a space to hide.

After all these efforts, I go back to the television and a storm chaser from the news channel is describing his location. "I'm at Indian Hills Road behind Andy's Alligator park and Hey Day, if you're familiar with that area, and off to the west is the tornado making it's way to Moore." Now you have a true Okie shaking in her boots. The storm chaser from the news channel is watching the storm come in from the intersection that is just south of her neighborhood!

Then, Mike Morgan declares that this is just like May 3rd and a closet or bathtub isn't going to cut it. You need to get below ground or leave immediately! "Gee... I wish we had a storm shelter", was what I was thinking at that moment in time. The night before I was not interested in a storm shelter (buying one, much less using one) what so ever, but right now I sure had a change of heart. I looked outside the front door and could hear rumbling in the distance. This wasn't about me anymore and I had a child to think about. If it were just me I would have stuck it out in the closet. Reluctantly, I grabbed my stash of supplies that I had brought into the closet and threw them into the car. I put Blake in the car seat, opened the garage door and high tailed it out of the neighborhood.

I was heading south on Santa Fe Avenue. It looked like some other fellow Okies waited until the last minute just like myself. Some of them felt like they had driven far enough south because they had pulled over onto the side in the grass and had gotten out to watch the tornado. I had the radio on the am station and was listening. I made it to Tecumseh Road in Norman and decided I could make my way back. I drove over to Western Avenue and took Franklin Road back to Santa Fe Avenue.

I pulled into our driveway and discover we are without electricity when the door doesn't go up. Our neighborhood had the tiniest particles of debris from the tornado all over the place. It looked like someone need to get a wet rag and just wipe the entire place down. Tiny blades of grass, dirt, and little pieces of insulation caked on everything. Two of my neighbors were standing in their driveway listening to a hand held radio. I went inside, fed Blake, and managed to get a Facebook post out letting everyone know I was okay. Not long after that there was no use trying to use your phone on the 4G network.

I went outside with my neighbors and we listened together to the radio. As we heard about the devastation that had happened we were all beginning to wonder about our families and friends that we knew who were closer to the areas they were talking about.

My sister's house is less than a mile from SW 149th and my parents are a mile north from it. I had now idea what to think.  All during this time I was getting texts from several people checking in on me. Which this was not a luxury we had on May 3rd. My husband was at work at Tinker trying to keep tabs on me. My neighbors kept me company until my husband got home. I had been cooking dinner in the crock pot that afternoon and it was still warm, so we took it outside, opened our garage door and set up a card table. We offered food to several of our neighbors even though only one person took us up on it. It's difficult to just sit there and do nothing when you are aware of the devastation that is not that far from you, but you are too close to it without electricity and can't really do anything to help immediately.

By evening I learned that my parents and sister were safe. My sister had minor damage to her house on the outside, nothing that cannot be fixed.

"Missed it by a mile." My family has been less than a mile from a tornado a few times now. We have been so fortunate. I'm not a religious expert. I want to say God is watching over us (our family), but He watches over everyone, even those who were directly effected and not as fortunate. All I can say is praise God we are safe! He must have plans for us to fulfill. I pray I am ready to do what he has for us. I cannot explain why one family is safe, but not another. I just count my blessings and hold my baby a little longer and a little tighter.

Also, I am not a wonderful writer. If you want to read from people who are more talented in that area I suggest you check out these links:

The first one is written by a Westmoore High School Alum who was in my sister's class and I was in his brother's class. The other ones are what I have come across on Facebook and I liked them.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/21/opinion/gunter-okies-tornadoes/index.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jennifer-rowe-walters/oklahoma-tornado-this-will-probably-come-to-define-us_b_3311478.html

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/05/oklahoma-teacher-heroes/65461/

April Showers

April showers...bring May flowers. That could be true this spring. Oklahoma City is officially out of a drought with the 7th wettest month on record ever.

But that's not what this post is about...We have been busy with baby showers this April. We have several people in our lives expecting little ones of their own this May/June.

The first shower this month was for a dear friend/couple (B&C) at our church. I enjoy hosting showers, but it gives little opportunity to take pictures of the event. Plus having my baby boy in tow, gives even less opportunities to take pictures. But it was a fun time and even the babies seemed to enjoy themselves.

My cousin whose mom is my mother's twin sister, is due with her baby in May as well. She had a shower thrown by her college friend last weekend.

I did bring Blake to the shower and he is in most of the pictures that I took using my cousin's camera :) This was the only picture I managed to get on my phone.

My husband's cousin's wife is also expecting and I went to her shower on Saturday in Edmond.

 

At that shower they had each guest make a hair bow for the baby girl. They had a craft table set up with headbands, bows, flowers, etc. and hot glue. Every guest made a hair bow or band and hung it on a tree. A very cute idea that I had not seen before in person. (I may have seen it on Pinterest!)

Then the finale was our family triple baby shower which consisted of my sister and two cousins. My grandma has three daughters and they each have a daughter who is pregnant and due in May. It was decided at our family Christmas Eve party that a triple baby shower would be thrown for all of the mommies. Little did someone in the room know that they would turn up pregnant shortly after Christmas. Another one of our cousin's is pregnant and due in September. It has been a fun and exciting time in our family.

Pregnant sisters!

 Three pregnant cousins! (Picture "borrowed" from my Aunt's Facebook page).

My little man played and played and played...

....Until he had too much.

 That finishes up our April showers, but we have one more at church next week! Then we will have a break, at least until my other pregnant cousin's shower at the end of the summer.

Firsts in Florida

Our trip to Florida was a new adventure for our family of three. Our little man also had a few exciting things happen during our trip. The previous post documents Blake's first plane ride, which he did remarkably well with. Thank goodness! We also got to enjoy more first experiences with our little man.

We were in Orlando, FL after the OK/TX Spring Break, but unfortunately it was Spring Break in FL plus Easter weekend. Which, by the way, Good Friday/Easter is the busiest weekend for Disney World. No kidding. We were there for a cousin's wedding, so we could not help this unfortunate timing. So long story short. We didn't bother with going to Disney World and we went to Sea World instead. However, Sea World was quite a zoo anyway, I don't even want to know what the crowds were like at Walt Disney.

Here we are, Blake's first trip to Sea World.

 Lucky us, Sea World gives free admission to military and their dependants and Blake's admission would have been free anyway since he is under two years old. Well, now I understand why some places do not charge you for your child under a certain age. There were not many things that Mr. Blake was able to do inside the park except for watching the animals. In the "kid friendly" area of the park there were rides that he was not old enough to enjoy. But mommy found a slide and was able to give Blake his first ride on a slide. There he is chewing on his jacket sleeve. You can tell he is "thrilled". (Ha ha! I don't even think he knew what was going on).

 At our hotel we were able to let Blake have his first experience in a pool. I think he wasn't sure what to think about that either. We just stayed near the edge of the pool where he was able to sit up and splash. Please excuse my "mom swim suit".

We did get a small Disney experience. Our hotel was right by Lake Buena Vista and Downtown Disney was within walking distance. It is a nice area outside the theme parks with shopping and restaurants. It gave us something to do and was nice to walk around. Here are some photo opportunities we took in that area.

We really enjoy getting to do new things with our son. It has been fun watching him grow and become ready for all these new experiences.

We flew with a 7 month old. You should too!

Before our son was even born we knew we were invited to a cousin's wedding in Orlando Florida. It was not until the end of February when we had to make the final decision. Should we go? And how: drive or fly. We took the plunge, RSVP'd, and booked plane tickets. We were really going to do this.

Keeping in mind that our son is very active and not content to just sit around, I did my research. I read every article on Pinterest which gave advice and guidelines on taking an infant on an airplane.

After all of our research and efforts, I am proud to say that our airplane travels went very smoothly to and from Orlando. All of the advice from Pinterest left us overly prepared for the entire situation.

Security was a piece of cake, we were even more efficient and faster than some fellow travelers who were flying alone. I was able to wear our son in our Ergo baby carrier and I did not have to take it or him off to walk through the metal detector. They just had to swab my hands afterwards to "check" for bomb residue.

All the information I read recommended feeding your baby during take offs and landings. Great idea in theory and I understand feeding babies on demand, but can you really feed a baby on your demand? We found that a pacifier did the trick. So, if your baby doesn't take a pacifier very well then you better hope they will eat on your demand :)

On the way to Orlando, we had a connection in Houston. Our first flight was at 6 am and when we got to Houston, we had about an hour and a half to kill and Blake was perfectly happy playing on a blanket on the floor while we waited. On the way home we had a direct flight that left at 3pm. 

Here is daddy and Blake during the landing of the 6 am flight

 Mommy and Blake

Lucky for us, flying with our infant was not a traumatic experience. We were blessed with flights that were not entirely booked, which allowed us to have a row to ourselves each time. All of the flight attendants were very helpful and attentive to us. On the 3 hour flight home Blake started out taking a nap and then woke up and watched Elmo for most of the flight.

I know every child and family is different, but this worked really well for us. Blake enjoys new experiences and he also loved it when the flight attendants would come and talk to us and he would flash them his killer smile. What can I say? My son is already a ladies man.

Weekend Fun!

Last weekend Sesame Street Live came to Oklahoma City and since we have an Elmo fan in the house we took Blake.
 Here our little Elmo fan is watching me get ready before going to the show and sucking on his feet.





I realize people may wonder why we would take a less than 7 month old to such an event, but this little man is something else. Watching Sesame Street on television is one of the few times during the day when he is still and not restless. Initially, I guessed this would not be an age appropriate outing but, our little man made a concerted effort to stay awake without being grumpy. He watched the first half of the show and then fell asleep ten minutes into the second half after the intermission. Overall it went fairly well. Here he is after the show all tuckered out.

On the way home, Mommy and Daddy were hungry so we ate lunch at the Chick-fil-a by our house. Blake was happy to sit and play while we ate.

Then we made it home in time for him to play and take a nap.

It was such a beautiful day outside, that we decided to grill turkey burgers for dinner and let Blake play outside.

We even managed to go for a walk that evening.

Weekends are surely different for us than they were a year ago, but it has been a good change.

However, this weekend has been totally different. Our weather has reverted back to a wintery state and it has been cold and rainy. Plus the Easter bunny came to our house early. Both grandmas brought Blake his Easter baskets which allowed Mommy and Daddy to go out on a date alone.

We ate at the Mule which is a gastro pub like sandwich place in the Plaza district of OKC. Then on the way home we stopped for a yummy, sweet treat:

Thank you grandma for watching little Blake!