New Camera and of Course Pictures

Dallas is getting more used to the idea of being in front of my camera now. I bought the newly released Nikon D90 last week and I love it!!! I am also taking a photography course finally and am learning how to take it out of "Auto" mode!!! Here are some of my favorite pictures taken over the past few days.

Post-Hurricane Update

We all made it through the storm. It was bad but not quite bad as it was supposed to be. We went to my parent's house and stayed from Sunday to Wednesday. I don't remember much about the hurricane because I took a tranquilizer and went to bed!!! I slept for a while then a big branch came off the tree in the front yard and hit the bedroom window. Thank goodness the windows were boarded up. The electricity was off for about a day and a half but it didn't bother us because we had a generator on the refrigerator/freezer. My parent's have a motor home so we took turns relaxing in there with the air conditioning and satellite TV!!! There was no damage to my parent's home, our home, or my little brother's home. Our home lost power for 2 days and we are still under a "Boil Water Alert". I lost the entire contents of my refrigerator and freezer because things had started to defrost. I can't complain because we could have lost much more. I just can't restock it yet because the grocery stores also lost everything and it will take at least a week to restock them. Somehow all 3 of us have managed to become sick. This is a first for all of us to be sick at the same time. Coughing, sneezing, sore throat, headache: you name it, all the good stuff. So we are at home resting and doing nothing much. I am closely watching out for the next hurricane and praying that it doesn't come near here(IKE STAY AWAY!!!). I managed to take some pictures during the daytime when the curfew wasn't in effect.

The pecan tree in my parent's adjacent lot. Took out 2 neighbor's fences!!!

Snapped power line downtown.

My brother's neighbor lost an old oak tree.

Mulate's world famous Cajun restaurant lost it's roof.

Pulled the pumps out of the ground at the service station.

It didn't take long for the hummingbirds to return.

Darn Hurricanes!!!

Thanks to those who have emailed and text messaged me about my need to update the blog. I don't know why I have a mental block about updating the blog lately!!! So here we go. Looks like Gustav is going to roll right over us. Looking at the last hurricane tracking map, the eye might pass extremely close to here. As soon as I finish this post I will finish packing up a few things and we will head to my parent's house. Then we will all decide on where we are going to next. The adoption paperwork already got packed up first yesterday. Can't forget that paperwork!!! Skip and my little brother will be staying behind at my parent's house so they can check on things after the storm passes. We really think they will be fine or my Mom would have already thrown them in the camper and locked the door!!! I packed plenty of chips and beer for Skip so he is all set!!! We might head towards Houston so I have already contacted someone about the possibility of staying with her family for a few days. I will update you as soon as everything is over and they let us come back home. If you can spare any prayers and positive thoughts for us all I would appreciate it. This was the weekend we were supposed to head to Disney in Florida for our travel group reunion. Oh well, maybe next time.

Look what I got!!!

We bought this to travel in. The new 2008 Honda CR-V EX-L. It gets awesome gas mileage on the highway!!! I love green so I had to have this one.

We're still here!!!

It's been a crazy busy summer around here. After my last post we decided on the spur of the moment to head to just outside of Boston to visit family. My Aunt was in the final stages of a brain tumor and we knew she didn't have long. We had a great time with my cousin, her husband and their 3 wonderful adorable girls. Dallas just loved meeting her new cousins. I took Dallas to meet and spend some time with her Great Aunt. She was a very important person in my life and it meant so much to me that Dallas spent time with her. My Aunt was in a semi-coma but I have no doubt that she knew we were there. We left on a Monday and she passed away that Tuesday morning.

We were home for about a week and a half before heading to Minnesota for my IL's 50th Wedding Anniversary. Another 11 day trip!!! I loved the weather as it was about 25-30 degrees cooler that it was here!!! I had to go buy sweatshirts and warm pj's for us. Dallas spent time with more cousins, 16 to be exact. She's grandchild #17 on that side of the family. I don't think she had a chance to walk for the first few days we were there because they all wanted to carry her. We had a great time and are already planning to go back next summer. I would really like to buy property up there for summer vacations and eventually retirement.

I don't want to leave the house until next year!!! We have decided to cancel our trip to Disney World this September. Being gone for 22 days was alot, especially $$$ wise with gas prices. Dallas did well but it took her a while to get settled back down once we got home. I was looking forward to seeing our China travel group again and seeing how all the girls have grown. Oh well, there's always the next reunion.

Dallas is doing extremely well in preschool. She really likes going now and doesn't cry when I drop her off!!! We are going to try her two full days a week next month instead of the two half days we do now. I have ordered a preschool homeschool curriculum for us to do together. It arrived yesterday and you should have seen the look on her face when she saw all her new books. She just sits there and "reads" to herself.

Overall, things are going well now. We have had our fair share of ear-infections, stomach viruses, etc. We did have a scare back in May when Dallas had a few minor seizures. She had to have an EKG, MRI and EEG. The MRI and EEG were both done with sedation. I am happy to report that the test results all came back negative. We have to watch her in case it happens again.

Big Girl Bed!!!

Dallas is now sleeping in her "Big Girl Bed"!!! She started climbing out of her crib a few months ago. Sometimes she would climb totally out and other times she would get "stuck" on top and scream for us in the middle of the night. I converted her crib to a toddler bed but that didn't work at all. She would wake up and promptly run to our room and get in bed with Mommy and Daddy!!! There were several nights where we would lay on the floor next to her until she feel asleep. By 2:00 am she would be right back in bed with us!!! Dallas has never been a great sleeper. It took us 7 months just to get her to sleep in her own crib after we got home with her. Even when she does get in bed with us she still is very restless. She gets half of a king size bed and we get the rest!!!

So "Sleeping Boot Camp" began earlier this month. I went out and bought full sized bedding for her and we converted the toddler bed to a "Big Girl Bed". Bye Bye crib!!! Yeah, Mommy didn't handle that too well. The the real fun began with night #1. I ended up sleeping in the bed with her because she would have nothing to do with her new bed. This went on for several weeks. She didn't want Daddy in the bed with her only Mommy. I was functioning on very little sleep. We finally decided to let her CIO. This was the best thing for us and we all sleep much better now. I made sure the furniture was bolted to the walls and that there was nothing she could get into. I moved the video camera to where it could scan the entire room. Finally, we put a gate in her doorway to prevent her from walking around at night. The first week was horrible. Skip would lay in the bed with her until she went to sleep and then go back to our room. When she would wake up and realize she couldn't get in bed with us, she would scream. I would watch her from the monitor in our room. She started taking everything off the bookcase by her bed and throwing it over the gate into the hallway. Then she threw the bedding into the hallway. Finally, she would climb back in her new bed and go to sleep. The next morning she would get up and clean up her mess and act as if nothing ever happened!!! It's been about a month now and Dallas is doing much better. She still doesn't like to go to bed but at least she is sleeping through the night without anymore major tantrums. If she does wake up she will cry for a while and then go back to bed. I think she got tired of cleaning up her mess so she doesn't throw stuff anymore!!! The gate will remain there until she can learn to stay in her bed without running around the house in the middle of the night. I have the monitor by the bed and can check on her at any time. Mommy and Daddy are finally getting some sleep and Dallas is actually sleeping better as well.

This Child is Making Me Go Totally Gray!!!

Dallas decided to fall off the back steps tonight and land on her back and head. By the time we got her to the ER, she had a nice sized goose egg on the back of her head. Thank God Daddy was home for this trip to the ER!!! Nothing broken and no stitches needed!!! We just have to watch her tonight and keep putting ice packs on it. I think Dallas wanted to see her favorite Nurse tonight. Nurse Deb is the best and always takes great care of Dallas. Dallas is making the most of her injury now and getting waited on hand and foot!!!

Several people have reminded me that I need to update the blog. I have been sick for about 4 weeks now and am just feeling better. It started out and allergies/sinuses then went to a respiratory infection and finally pink eye. After 5 trips to the doctor I am finally on the mend. Fortunately, Dallas was only sick for a few days. She went to Grammie and PaPa's for a few days so Mommy could rest up. Skip was at work as usual.

As soon as I catch up with cleaning the house/laundry, I will sit down and post more. I have some pictures that I managed to take and will post them as well. It will be a long night as we have to wake her every few hours and check on her. I think Daddy gets to do this since he has all the emergency medical training!!!