I’ve noticed that after a certain point it’s gotten harder to update my blog as much as I’d like to.  (I’m constantly chasing after a crawling baby.)  I also used to be able to have my laptop close by, and jot some things down while she rolled around on the floor playing with her many toys.  Now she can crawl to me, pull her self up to stand using my legs as I sit at the couch, and pull the screen of my laptop backwards to check out what I’m doing.  Hard to get anything written when you are playing “keep away” with a determined baby.   Anyway, I’ve finally had a chance to sit down and finish the few sentences I’ve managed to get down.  Let’s start with the beginning of the month shall we?

4th of July!  Marshall got back in town the day before so luckily he wasn’t away on yet another holiday.  Yippee!  We celebrated the way most Americans do, by watching Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum kick some alien butt in the movie “Independence Day” and had been invited to a Bar-B-Que at Mollie’s parents house.  Of course there was lots of yummy food, play time between the cousins (and their daddies too) and some fun in the pool!  Kayla was sporting her patriotic pink camo bathing suit for her very first dip in a pool.  I didn’t bring my own swim suit so I kicked off my sandals and put my feet in the water as Kayla was introduced to the water.  She didn’t like it.  She clutched on to us with a tight grip and wouldn’t stay sitting in the water.  If she could have scrambled up our laps to escape I know she would have.  Marshall was loaned a suit and he slipped into the water with a whining Kayla who was trying to scale him to be as far up from the water as possible.  After a while of being held by daddy in the cool water on this hot day in July, she finally started to calm.  Daddy taught her to splash a bit (getting eye fulls of water in the process) and at the end of their time in the pool, Kayla was reaching away from him splashing both hands through the pool.  It really was a wonderful day, full of laughs from Kayla and Lilly’s expanding diapers from being the pool, and finger licking food like; stuffed jalapenos and ribs, but it was over all too soon.  (And now Marshall’s drooling over getting a pool) Can’t wait to do it again!

Pool = Fun

It was just that next weekend that my sister, Beth and 3 of her kids dropped by for a visit!  I haven’t seen Beth since my brother’s wedding 4 years ago, so it was wonderful to be able to see her again.  It’s been even longer since I’ve seen my nieces and nephews!  She was taking a road trip from D.C. to California, where she was going to spend the summer, then back to D.C. and making stops along the way and seeing pretty much everyone in the family.  (Real big accomplishment since our family is large and scattered.)  Mackenzie was already in Utah getting ready to start her first year at BYU so it was just Tabitha, Warren and Henry who came along for the trip.  All of them are so much older (and taller than me in some cases) and it totally blew me away.  They all have wonderful personalities and I’m glad I got to reconnect with all of them.  They got here on Friday evening and where going to head out Sunday morning so we made sure to take them to all things Texan.  Friday night we took them to a Rooster’s Roadhouse for some “redneck, white-trash, blue collar” BBQ and some homemade ice cream on the square at Beth Marie’s.

Henry, Tabitha, Warren, Beth, Me, Marshall and Kayla

The next day we  stopped for breakfast at Old West Cafe for some real pancakes, then took them down to the Fort Worth Stockyards to get a real taste of Texas. The day was hot, being that it was in the high 90’s with the humidity somewhere  in the 80’s but never the less we had a lot of fun!  We walked down the historic site, took pictures of Henry riding a Texas Longhorn named “Big Jake”, laughed while Warren and then Henry tried to stay on as long as they could on a mechanical bull, and had some more great country cooking at the H3 Ranch.   We got to see the moving of the Longhorn herd down the avenue, and we even shopped a bit, so they will be going some with some great Texas souvenirs.  We went home exhausted and sweating from the heat but it was great day out.  I hope I don’t have to wait as long to see them again.

Beth, Warren, Tabitha and Henry

Now just a few days ago, on Thursday the 15th, it was Marshall’s 28th birthday!  He got his birthday gift before hand (like usual) of some new Maui Jim sun glasses that are perfect for when he goes on bike rides, and Mollie and Ryan were sweet enough to make the long drive to our place to watch Kayla that next night so we could go out and celebrate properly.   Marshall’s pick of a restaurant was Pappadeaux’s for a wonderful seafood dinner.  We took our time and had a great meal, laughing and talking, while trying our hardest NOT to talk about our daughter back at home playing with her cousin.  (And sucking on Lilly’s toe at one point, or so we’ve been told.)  It was great to get out of the house ALONE and has us craving more time like that.  I’m totally looking into finding a babysitter close by so I can make this a more frequent occurrence!    Thank you again you guys!

Two weeks ago was Father’s Day.  While we spent the day giving our love and appreciation to the Father’s in our lives, the day had a special meaning as it was the first time Marshall got to celebrate it as a Father.  I had already purchased his gift and sent it to him a week prior, because if you don’t know by now, I can’t seem to keep a gift secret.  More on that later.

To celebrate Marshall’s new holiday, the day before we headed to Dallas Fair Park and spent the day at the Nature & Science Museum.  We caught a TERRIBLE planetarium show, all about if there was life on other planets they may look like floating bubbles or giant insects.  I thought planetarium shows were typically about stars, but I did find it amusing the narrator for the video was the actor who played Q on Star Trek: TNG.  (Yes, I’m that much of a geek)  Kayla starting getting a bit too antsy so I had to step out (I wasn’t that disappointed) before they actually moved on to the Texas Night Sky.  I was disappointed to miss that one, and the fact Marshall didn’t get to see it.  See, if you left the planetarium room while the show was going, you could not come back in until the show was done.  Which didn’t make too much sense because I don’t know why I’d go back in if it was OVER anyway.  Either way, Marshall decided to just leave and spend time with us instead.  (Cue the “Awww”)

Mythical Theorized Balloon Aliens

The Water exhibit is in town and we learned many interesting facts about water, Marshall gushed about the small Darwin display, we had fun taking pictures of Kayla crying sitting on various items, laughed that they had a ASCII display for kids, and gazed up at the huge T-Rex skeleton.  Marshall had wanted to go to a museum for quite a while so I’m glad we got to do this as a family on his special weekend.  The next day we didn’t do much other than grab a buffalo and venison burger called the buffison, at Twisted Root Burger (As seen on Food Network).  Other then that, we didn’t celebrate much more then spending time together.

Crying at the Museum

We got the whole family together on Thursday the 24th to celebrate the two new Dad’s in the family, Marshall and Ryan, and of the man who’s been there through the years as a father figure in the Culpepper family, Joe.  Joe’s kids, Sheila and Derek of course came and we all had a wonderful time.  Lilly cuddled up to everyone and snatched the bow off her own head then decided to move on to the one Kayla was wearing.  Kayla wanted to show everyone how she learned to jump from her Papa Rick.  I guess that was Kayla’s tribute to the missing dad who couldn’t be there.

Lilly & her daddy, Ryan

Now back to the gift I got Marshall.  For as long as I’ve known Marshall he has always points out and drools over any Corvette he sees.  Now whenever we see one on the road I’m always hoping he doesn’t notice so I don’t have to hear about it.. again.  So when I was searching online for a father’s day gift I came across a site that sold thrill rides or a day racing cars.  One of them being a Corvette.  Needless to say I couldn’t help myself and I bought Marshall 10 laps in a Z06 Corvette at Texas Motor Speedway with an extra 5 laps with an experienced race car driver behind the wheel.  That next week on Saturday the 26th, Kayla and I went and cheered him on in the hot Texas sun but it was worth it to see Marshall so happy.  He even blogged about it!  That is a serious compliment because he doesn’t blog often!    Read more about that day at Arcaner.com.

Marshall revving up!

We had an eventful June and it was a wonderful way to finish off the month.  Again I’d like to say how much I appreciate the father’s in my life.  We love the way you’ve been there to fix things that get broke and deal with the scary spiders. 

Well this last week has been pretty busy.  Because Chase’s graduation was Saturday we had lots going on. (Marshall’s littlest brother) First of all Marshall’s dad was riding into town from Nashville for all the festivities and at one point would be staying with us. That of course made me go cleaning crazy, because that’s just what I do when we have company, go crazy.  Marshall really should learn to just keep his head down when I’m cleaning for company, I go completely nuts and it becomes a war zone.  I expect only “Yes ma’am” and “No ma’am” from him during this time. Don’t worry, by lunch time on Thursday I had stopped the cleaning panic and offered up a “lunch truce” and made my reparations. 

Friday night we went to the customary Culpepper hangout for such an occasion, Siciliano’s Taste of Italy.  We ate lots of garlic knots, listen to the mandolin player and celebrated Chase making it out of High School alive.  The cousins played with each other some, and at one point Kayla was being passed around the table like a salt shaker.  It was a wonderful night of catching up and all around fun.

I don’t know what’s happening here really.

Saturday was Chase’s big day, and it started EARLY.  Since his graduation started at 8am, we made sure to leave the house with enough time to get there, park and find the seats.  Which was mega early in my opinion.  We left the house before Kayla’s typical wake up time so she wasn’t the happiest camper when we left either.  We got to be there for the most important parts and got some video before Kayla just got too fussy.  We took her out to the car to feed her and maybe get her to nap, but as soon as she was fed she became this bundle or joy in the car.  We tried going back in with some trouble but caught the throwing of the caps and headed outside like cattle to take some pictures before heading to some breakfast.

Cap Toss!

Sunday we had everyone over to celebrate Shannon’s birthday.  We had her pick of food which was a wonderful brunch of waffles and the usual breakfast side dishes.  After eating we watched the baby cousins have their first fight over toys, watched them share a toy and we all played “Just Dance” on the Wii.   I think watching them play this game was almost as fun as watching them play “Guesstures”.   Marshall has NO dancing abilities, so watching him and listening to him keep muttering while he tried to dance made me laugh.  Ryan got completely into it and Mollie and I were weary of fully getting our “groove” on.  They even busted out “Rockband” at one point and I had witness to the first Culpepper band.

Just Dance on the Wii – Eye of the Tiger

After everyone headed home, Marshall’s dad stayed with us for the night.  They had a “hacking session” while the women of the house took a nap.  Considering Kayla got woken up before her usual time and from her naps quite a few times in the last couple days, both of us were quite tired.   We spent some time with Marshall’s dad and after dinner Kayla found a new game to play with Papa Rick which sent us into hysterics because she kept it up for so long.

I’m glad this weekend is over, it was a lot of fun but I was exhausted!  There is quite a bit of videos and photos, so make sure to visit those pages if you want to see them.  Lots of the cousins, Chase’s graduation and Kayla just being silly.  Either way, lots of good stuff!

When Gmama and Papa Joe babysat Kayla just last week, she faked crying pretty much the whole time she was there.  On Wednesday the 12th, when we went to a banquet in honor of some of the Seniors graduating from High School, Kayla gave the most pathetic cry when being held by Daddy.  She was looking over at me giving this obviously fake cry while reaching out for me.  I just wanted to eat!   I guess we’ve breezed right into the separation anxiety stage of things.  I dub her “Velcro baby” now.

Obviously, Kayla’s new behavior was something to comment on, but really the big topic is Chase!  The Waterbrook Ministry Center threw a banquet for all the Seniors in the youth RUSH group and we went out to cheer on Chase.  He’s graduating from Rowlett High school in June and going off to Baylor College.  I’m sure a certain Gmama couldn’t be prouder he’s going to her Alma mater either.  He’s going to be studying Computer Science, which means I’m sure, that during family gatherings Marshall and him will be talking about stuff that will go completely over my head.  A bunch of techno babble I’m sure will put Kayla and I to sleep.  I may be a geek, but when you start spouting equations like O(n²), which has actually been thrown at me in a conversation, I start to zone.  Excuse me, it’s not an equation, it’s a NOTATION, as I’ve just been informed.  I hate math.  So to Chase!  I wish you the best of luck, but I doubt you’ll need it!

Brothers Celebrating:  Ryan, Chase, and Marshall

I’ve also just recently set it up where you can receive an email every time I update my blog for anyone out there what wants it.  I’ll still post and tweet when I update, this is just going to be another option for the few people I know that don’t use either service. (Or just would prefer an email.)

Alright, obviously it was Mother’s day on the 9th which was last Sunday.  Last year on Mother’s day I was in my second trimester of my pregnancy and I remember teasing Marshall about how I deserved a gift because I was on my WAY to being a mom but he didn’t buy it.  Heck I didn’t even get a “push” gift.  (A gift given after giving birth.) Women have manufactured many ways to get gifts out of our men, I think it’s only appropriate we get one for enduring 9 long months and then hours in labor for bringing a child into the world.  Kind of a “good job” and “thanks” for bringing my progeny into the world.  Although I do think the men deserve something too for dealing with hormonal women wanting all manner of food at odd hours.

After only being a mom for little over 6 months, I completely get why they gave us a DAY.  This year was special though because 7 years ago, on Mother’s day, Marshall and I were married.  Meaning not only was I celebrating my first official Mother’s day, I was also celebrating 7 wonderful years of marriage on the same day.  It really was a big day for us.  So what did we do?  First Marshall actually woke up early, (It’s a miracle!) and we had breakfast at my favorite place for pancakes.  Old West Cafe was packed and we had to deal with people standing around our table that were still waiting to get a seat, but the specialty pancakes are definitely worth it.

Later that day we packed up Kayla’s bag, and the kitchen sink, and headed to the babysitters; Gmama and Papa Joe.  I’d have probably felt a lot worse about having her watch Kayla for us if we hadn’t already celebrated Mother’s day with her last week, but it still made me laugh a bit.  “I appreciate you, and all you’ve done in raising the son I married, but can you babysit?”  It also figures that Kayla seems to be eating a lot more lately, which could either be a growth spurt or she’s just reached the point where she needs to eat more a day but is still hasn’t taken to the spoon and solids quite yet.  Either way it made for a fussier Kayla who seemed to want to eat way too often.

We went to a wonderful hibachi restaurant called Kyoto Japanese Steakhouse and took a our time actually eating and talking.  Something we haven’t had the privilege to do since Kayla’s birth.  I tried my first piece of sushi, red snapper, and it wasn’t bad actually.  I expected to eat half and give the rest of it to Marshall, but it wasn’t the cold, slimy, fishy taste I was expecting at all.  After our leisurely dinner,  we made a quick stop in to Gmama’s so I could feed Kayla, she had played for a while but mostly just was testing her grandparents patience, then we went to see Iron Man 2 in IMAX.  I had almost forgotten how great it is to see a movie in a theater, it was a great movie even though we were packed in there like sardines.  We rushed back to Kayla to find she fake cried mostly and calmed when she watched the “Ladybug Picnic” song from Sesame Street a dozen or so times.  After I fed her she was out for the count.  I could have held her upside down and she wouldn’t have woken up.  I guess keeping up her “upset” facade for Gmama and Papa Joe wore her out.  A big “THANK YOU” to them for watching her (and dealing with her) on our big day.

On a side note, the Friday before Mother’s day, we had good news.  In March, we had put in a order for a Chevy Equinox and it finally arrived!  Oh yeah, the geeked out mommy mobile was here.  We swapped the cars, signed the papers and we drove home in my new car.   We weren’t expecting it yet, but it was a great gift for our dual event.  It kind of makes the book I got Marshall (Geek Dad: Awesomely Geeky Projects and Activities for Dads and Kids to Share) look pretty pathetic in comparison…

Lots has been going on in the last couple weeks.  Some of which I couldn’t talk about yet.  Two weeks ago on April 21st, Marshall and I packed up the baby and met his siblings out at Fujitsu field to remake a 18 year old photo of all of them in the Bluebonnets for a Mother’s Day gift.  We got together Sunday to celebrate and we of course gave her the gift so now I can finally talk about it.   Marshall and I got there first, because we agreed to make sure the field had the requisite flower since none of us had actually been there yet.  Since we got there before anyone even left, we had lots of time.  Which is also why we took Kayla’s Easter dress and set out to get some of the standard “baby in the Bluebonnet” pictures.  We forgot her Bumbo seat, so she would have to sit up on her own and did so wonderfully, and without a fuss the entire time.  Well, she tipped over once and in the process almost ate a flower.  (Daddy had to dig the petals out of her mouth.)  Needless to say the pictures are precious.  Why doesn’t every state do this?  It’s too cute.

The pictures for the siblings were great as well!  They made sure to get everything as close as possible to the original and it turned out pretty awesome if I do say so myself.   I wrapped the old and new picture in their frames and we all got together Sunday to wish Mom a happy Mother’s Day at Spring Creek BBQ and give her the present.  She was thrilled with it.  I’m glad we could all coordinate our schedules enough to get together and get the picture.

On April 28th, Kayla turned 6 months!  The day after I noticed a white spot on her gums, and since we had her 6 month check up the next day her doctor confirmed it, she’s officially cutting teeth.  She is also in perfect health.  I don’t know how we’ve have such a healthy baby, but so far we’ve had no ear infections or even the slightest sniffle. Not that I’m complaining but I keep wondering when the other shoe is going to drop.  She’s evened out in the length department and is now in the 50th percentile at 25½” inches, gotten chubbier in weight (It’s all in the cheeks! I swear it!) at 15.1 pounds which puts her in the 40th percentile, and she still doesn’t have Marshall’s massive head since she’s still in the 55th percentile and holding.

Yesterday we all had a busy day.  Since the baby turned 4 months and she decided sleeping was going to be sporadic, I’ve fallen behind on the normal household chores.  Since this house is so big, I kept looking around at everything I had to do and just about hyperventilating.  As sort of a Mother’s Day/Anniversary gift we got a maid to come in and do a spring cleaning.  I also took the dogs in to get groomed since (one of the things causing me stress) Odin was leaving “puddles” of black fur all over the house.  It was just EVERYWHERE.  You’d think the long haired dog would be the one we would have to worry about.  I guess we know better now.  I also ran several errands so every nap Kayla had yesterday was in the car.  Marshall was busy working on a software release for his company, so he was hard at work plugging away at his computer with his head down all day.  The house looks wonderful and the dogs look.. well, Odin looks slightly funny since he got shaved, but both look pretty spiffy.

A lot of things have happened since last I posted.  First off, we tried solids again with a much more receptive Kayla to the idea.  Although some of those faces she made stated otherwise.  We have a video post of that and of a cute mini typing lesson daddy have Kayla earlier that we hadn’t uploaded.

Big news though was that our air conditioner went out downstairs.  As soon as we get nice weather I can’t even enjoy it from the safety of my cool house.    Since Kayla’s room and mine are both downstairs we weren’t the happiest of people.  Kayla has to be swaddled when she sleeps, (this included naps too) so when it’s uncomfortably warm I didn’t want to get her too hot.  She ended up naked a lot of this week during sleep time or in a short sleeved onesie just trying to cool off with mommy under the fan in the living room.  We got it fixed yesterday.  Apparently we had a leak in our AC unit and it had completely lost it’s freon.  I’m just glad we hadn’t spent our tax return yet because it was a bit pricey.

Since maybe 2 or 3 weeks ago it began being glaringly apparent that Kayla is out to grab EVERYTHING.  While it used to be easy to hold her while maybe eating or writing a check, she’s no longer content with sitting still.  She must have whatever is in front of her.  Most of it ends up in her mouth, if it can get there (my shopping list being one of them) or on the floor.  She almost poured my soup in my lap too!   Since she always is after things to play with we bit the bullet and got her an activity jumper.  Her feet barely hit the floor but she’s happy with all the toys surrounding it and can play for a while and be quite content.  She’s even starting to get the bouncing thing going.  Also, this way I don’t have to keep picking up the toy she just dropped to keep her from screaming.

Last but not least, today is Easter.  That of course means we had a get together with the family.  When I was a kid, I always got a Easter dress every year that made me feel like a princess, so I’m continuing with the tradition with Kayla and she showed her cute dress off today.  I made cupcakes that looked like Easter baskets for the occasion, which had a ton of candy to eat on top before you even got to the cupcake.  I also provided the dessert of chocolate fondue with all the fixin’s that we ate after a delicious roast beef Kayla’s Gmama made.  Kayla even got a small “Pat the Bunny” book from her Gmama that she tried to eat a few times.  Only damper on the festivities was the lack of some of the family.  Shannon was out in Nashville winning a dance competition (GO Shannon!) and spending time with her dad, and Ryan got very sick the night before so, him and his little family didn’t attend either.  I hope you feel better soon Ryan.  We missed you all today.