times in the bay

what a week. i've been working hard on scheduling teams to come volunteer in the Bay. that's exciting. kate has been walking and playing hard. she even watched a dvd one day for 2 hours and i was able to put on makeup, get dressed in real clothes, and clean up. it was amazing. we've been going walking on the beach bike path since it's cooled off. today we went in the morning and then i let her dip her toes in the sea. she loved it.
i had a hard day today. andy ended up leaving some of his work at lagniappe church because it was so time consuming. he wants to focus more on big river, which i don't blame him, but it came as a shock. it ended in lots of tears on my part, but now i'm ok. God is in control. i just didn't want to have to move away from here.
i love working at Lagniappe, trials and all, and i didn't know what to expect. but it's all good now. i realize that andy's first love lies with the company that he built from the ground up-heck, i even came up with the name-and that should be his focus.
so excited-less than 24 hours to the better than ezra concert. i've been listening to them all day.
i'm looking forward to the weekend, as always.
kate was playing hard today. it was fun. i love cuddling her and kissing her.

oh when the saints go marching in

tonight we are enjoying the hype associated with the saints/falcons game. first game in the superdome since katrina. it's been on local tv since 3 pm this afternoon-concerts and coverage. i loved watching the cowboy mouth concert on tv this afternoon-the police shut it down, however, because the crowd was so large.
the saints are winning as i type. that's exciting.
i'm listening to better than ezra, hyping up for the concert in baton rouge this weekend....i am SO excited. i've been a fan of theirs since 1998. i bought the tix weeks ago....and i can't believe it's this weekend. i dreamed about it last night. i LOVE LOVE LOVE watching them in concert. i don't know what it is but they are my favorite.
i'm looking forward to having some friends come visit this weekend and go to the concert with me.
kate has been doing so well lately. i love playing with her and being with her.
life has been good for me lately. i'm happy. God is good.

 

my wonderful husband and my darling daughter. i am so blessed. i've been working on scheduling volunteers every day , as well as keeping the house in order. we have company this week-andy's employee amanda and her husband ronnie are moving to the coast, so they have been with us since sunday and are leaving thursday. then this weekend, andy will be traveling to atlanta for the WIC general assembly and i'll have the larroux kids as well as kate. also, a's sister christy and friends are coming for a visit and we will head to nola for some fun. they will stay for all weekend. then next week, amanda and husband will return to hunt for homes.
fight club is on the tv right now. i'm halfway watching it. i need to write some thank you notes for kate's birthday gifts. she had a fun party, we just wished more family/close friends could have joined us. it has been raining like a son of a gun today and the yard is mush. although the rain contributed to a great nap for kate and me. i cooked dinner tonight and at 830 andy fell asleep in the chair. he's still there. i know he's been working hard but i'm selfish and i want him to spend time with me.
kate has been walking so much. she'll do about 10 steps at a time.
i found some jewelry i haven't seen since we moved-i was so excited. i have no reason to wear it but maybe i'll find a reason.
rosie is chewing on a bone in the living room. she's happy.
facebook is so crazy now. i am normally a nosy person, but this is extreme.
i'm not digging the season of laguna beach-it's too stupid. but i'm still watching it.
i'm thankful for Jesus. 

I'm one!

Kate, daddy and mommy had a small party on her actual birthday, sept. 6. we sang and she had her first piece of cake ever. She loved it.  

one year ago today....

one year ago today i was learning that at 7:50 pm, i'd be having a c-section. i had no bags, no clothes, i was in a borrowed car. they said, today's a good day to have a baby! i said, give me one more day! nope! so kate taylor came into my life, so i could see her, last year right about now. i didn't bond with her until about 24 hours after she was born. i love that girl.

things i've learned this past year:

1. it's okay to have children's shows tivoed.
2. it's okay to have extra diapers than you think you need.
3. it's okay to carry a half gallon of milk during a day of shopping.
4. it's okay to let her cry.
5. it's okay to not give in.
6. it's okay to hold her when she wants it.
7. it's okay to listen to other experienced parents when you don't agree-they probably know much more. doing this, i learned how to keep kate in her bed past 7 am!
8. it's okay to rock her to sleep, even now.
9. it's okay to stay at home all day in my pajamas. everyone's happy that way.
10. it's okay to let her get a little dirty. no harm.

i think i'm a smarter, stronger person since this time last year. i can't imagine my life without kate taylor. i'm so excited about her party on saturday. i want to celebrate how much i love her. i've been so busy lately. we've been landscaping our yard each day-trips to lowe's, andy on the skid steer, dump truck delivering dirt. it's been hot, but good.
been doing a lot of scheduling and cleaning the house. working in the yard means, tracking in a lot of dirt. extra vacuuming.
I cleaned out the car tonight. lots of milk stains on the leather.
i've been slowly decorating for the barnyard party. that's fun to do.
tomorrow i have lunch with a friend at 11 and then a meeting with andy with a client in gulfport. we have a babysitter for most of the day, so that will be nice.
i thoroughly enjoyed my spa weekend. i've already chipped 3 toenails from all the yard work, proving my pedicure to be a waste. but i loved it. my highlights/haircut are my best ever. i enjoyed the massage and just the quiet time with no one expecting anything from me. it was hard to leave but it was fun to see kate's face after i'd been gone for 3 days. her jaw dropped and she smiled a big one.
but---i'd go back to the spa anyday.
we biked, we swam, we tanned, we ate, we shopped, we slept. soooo dreamy.
for being a good mommy for one year, i upgraded my diaper bag AND purse to one bag. i got it in a green paisley, not shown. i can fit my (2) phones, wallet, diaper, bottles, etc. so easy, especially with a 28 lb bundle of joy. so i'm working the mommy tote.
i'm making kate a shirt for her birthday. so far my friend kim is making her a cow print skirt with pink dangling balls, and i've got a white t with pink polka dot ribbon trim. it's going to be so cute, hopefully!
kate got a pair of strawberry robeez in the mail today from a friend in louisville. she took so many steps in them-she loved them. what a great gift.
i got her a cute canopy for her bed-it's yellow with orange tassles-very dreamy. it makes her nursery very cool.
can't think of much else. life is good.

worker bees

the head worker bee. 

before....

more pics to follow. we've been working our asses off! 

the week in review

1. andy met with someone awesome that wants to send the ladies of lagniappe to the spa this weekend. we leave tomorrow at lunchtime and come home sunday afternoon. i'm getting highlights, pedicure, and massage. can we say, AWESOME?
2. kate and i went to home depot today and it was fun. she loved riding in the buggy shaped like a race car, complete with a steering wheel.
3. worked and worked on scheduling teams for the fall at lagniappe.
4. celebrated (mourned) the anniversary of katrina. too much press time for new orleans on tv and nothing for the coast.
5. weather cooled off to under 90 degrees so i finally go to go for a walk. the humidity here is terrible.
6. worked on kate's birthday party. barnyard bash-complete with my friend designing a cowprint skirt for kate to model for the festivities.

all in all, a busy, busy week.

busy work

nothing to say about this. 

all aboard

kate loves watching "choo choo soul" on the disney channel. it's a little 5 minute spot that sings abc's and 123's. it has a ghetto conductor in overalls and gloves on the turntables as well as a singing helper. she's dressed in sleek black pants with a pocketwatch and it is rockin. kate stops whatever she is doing to watch it. it's pretty catchy, too.
church today was awesome. we talked about how each person has their own personal hurricane-something that God uses to draw them to Him. it is something that is painful that makes you turn to him and ask, what is this all about. and He lovingly guides you through it. for some people it might be having cancer, a divorce, or for people down here, it WAS a hurricane. The Bible tells us that He didn't just let the hurricane happen-He commanded the wind and the waves. He told it to do that.
I am so happy that Ernesto has been downgraded to a tropical depression. I continue to pray that it weakens.
Kate was pretty happy today. she played and played. she is a mama's girl for sure.
andy went with the men on staff to jackson this afternoon to spend the night so they can go to breakfast with the governor in remembering the anniversary of the hurricane. they are going to have 5 minutes with him so that will be neat. andy and i met him previously in louisville, ms when he was campaigning.

squeak

today kate played with 5 year old savannah. that was great. she liked doing that. i liked it because i could relax and let her entertain her. this afternoon kate and i went to bay and lily hourin's birthday party in diamondhead. their mommy took kate's awesome pictures. it was fun being there. i met a lot of diamondhead people. her husband grew up there so they know lots of folks. their house is gorgeous and it was nice. kate was climbing my leg the whole time so i wanted some help but i didn't know anyone really. i met a nice young mommy from ocean springs and she says she'll call me. we'll see. i've been through this before.
the birthday girls never opened their presents. we sat around having sangrias and mingling while the kids played ona jumpy blow up thing in the yard. the men sat on the porch with some beer. i felt insecure with all the preppy ladies. i met one lady who does arbonne. most of them stay at home with the kids and go to the country club and go swimming.
maybe i'll find some friends there. it's so different from bay st louis. it's about 10 minutes away. anyway it was an interesting, nice change of pace.
last night we went to daniel's south beach to hear "dr. rock and the interns." a big group of us went and it was fun. the band was okay. of course i did my rendition of "brick house" with them but the lead singer was messing up the words. oh well roll with it.
went to the waffle house afterwards. nothing like waffle house late at night! it's so good.
best of all-we only spent 13 bucks all night. lagniappe!
i got kate some mooshu trainers. they have little squeakers in the sole to encourage toddlers to walk. you can take the squeakers out when they learn to walk. she is not used to the feeling of shoes so she's still figuring that out. it's funny to watch her look at her shoes.
went to slidell on wednesday to get birthday party supplies and to go to target. i got some awesome, cheap clothes for kt and had fun with kim larroux.
i've been busy scheduling teams, answering emails for lagniappe, and going to staff meetings. it's a good job for me to have since i can work from home.
there is a tropical storm in the bahamas. please please pray that it will not make landfall and that God will prevent it from arriving here.

When mommy's away

I went to the beach today by myself. I was gone for one hour. Andy "babysat" (parented) and i came home to hurricane kate and its remnants. or was it daddy? 

Joy

Took my baby to the beach in an inflatable boat and she loved it. we relaxed in the sunshine and the sound of the ocean. she's fun to be around. she makes me so happy. she intoxicates me. 

Musings

Not a morning person. Had an 8 am meeting and kate was up at 630. i sleep best in the mornings, and not too happy about waking up! but the meeting was great. took kate to walmart for some necessary groceries and we spent the afternoon playing, crawling around, watching annoying baby shows, and crying and sleeping. i couldn't fall asleep because i had so much on my mind: emails to write, phone calls to return, bananas to clean up off the kitchen floor. but at least kate got a good nappie. big achievement-she's drinking cow's milk! that is something that mom's that are buying formula look forward to regarding the first birthday. switching to cow's milk. she doesn't even notice a change. but my WALLET sure notices a big improvement! so that's good. we are also getting ready to turn her carseat forward...another achievement of being 1 years old. she will love that-her legs are so long.
i'm trying to eat healthier. please pray with me that this will go easily for me. it's too hot to exercise outside so i need to do something inside.
i've checked around for daycares here, and there's nothing suitable for kate for right now just give me a morning off once in a while. since i don't really have anyone that can take the reigns and babysit for me, that was my second choice. but they are all full. we'll see what happens.
i know i write about kate a lot-but that's basically my career right now. yes, i work for the church doing scheduling, but that's during her naps/happy times. the rest of the day i'm playing with her, feeding her, changing her, tickling her.
i watched the laguna beach season 3 premiere last night. it was kinda stupid. 1) all the girls look the same. 2) why do they spend 14 minutes talking about "are you going to the barbecue?" i mean please. go or don't go. 3) do they even go to school? 4) i loved seeing the veterans, much more than the newbies. i think they should have followed the older girls. 5) can jessica not be happy single? she gives all the guys such a hard time. she drives me crazy. 6) positive note: a girl named Cami. Although she doesn't spell it right, it's rare to hear my name on tv. but i don't really like her much.
we'll see if it gets better next week.
shout outs to kelsey for getting engaged. i know it was worth the wait! i am so excited for you and josh.
OUT

Glorious Rosie

She should send me a thank you note-she's living the high life in the house on a soft bed in the laundry room. i feed her, pet her, and kate LOVES her. kate gets so excited to see her. andy and i know we did the right thing by re-adopting her! i'm not a dog crazy person. i love animals but....rosie is special i guess. 

my front door view

every morning when i open the front door, this is my view. 3 people live there. a man, a woman, and their son. i think they each live in a separate fema trailer. isn't that sad? they don't seem to be making much progress on their house. they seem to like the trailers because they are always in them. i dunno. they have dogs chained up under the trailers. 2 of them are campers and 1 is a fema trailer.
that's just a typical picture of the loss down here. most people in waveland still live in a trailer. we are so fortunate to have a house. but it helps us help other people because we realize that this is going to take years of reconstruction. we love it here, oddly enough. we learned a lot today about the vision of Lagniappe Church and it was very encouraging. God is totally in control. 

sunset over the bay

I looked out the window and there was an eerie glow. like, after it rains and the sun comes out. i went out the front door to capture this picture. one side of the sky was bright bright blue, fading into purple, then a yellow/orange glow. and this was the cloud. what an awesome painting God did! it made me think of Him and His creation. you can see the fema trailers at the bottom. rosie has been sick, so that's been extra to deal with. i'm not as sick, and andy is still coughing but we are pulling through. kate is doing well. we had a meeting at work today from 8-2 so i was worn out because i had to take care of kate during some of that time because she knew i was there (she was at church with an intern) and was giving the intern hell. so i couldn't take the crying anymore and i brought her into the meeting and i sat on a blanket in the corner with her. it was kinda fun but tiring. andy is in new orleans with our pastor right now so i'm at home holding down the fort and cleaning it up. my friend melanie had a baby today! that is so amazing. i can't wait to call her tomorrow and hear all about that little boy. i wish so badly i could get in the car and go see them but i know that it's not feasable with little kate. 3 hour drive one way. babies are so amazing! it's amazing how God planned that whole process out.
i heard a quote today from our pastor. it was great. we were praying for families to move here and he said, "let this be the hardest thing they couldn't avoid." that just totally summed up why we moved here. it was so hard for us to avoid the hurt and the help needed down here. we knew we could help out, and we couldn't get it out of our minds. that's what it takes to come. if you just flirt with the idea, then you aren't ready. it has to draw you here, it has to be irresistable. just like God's grace. 

what were they thinking?

ok so i'm going through, checking to see what shows will be on in the fall. and i found out they cancelled "related"!

they also cancelled "what i like about you," "living with fran" and all these other goobie shows i liked to watch. oh man. at least i still have desperate housewives, grey's, what about brian. oh and don't forget laguna beach.

but i will want to know whatever happened to the sorelli sisters! i guess i'll never know.

in other good news, "the office" comes back on sept. 21. ah.

small joys in life

A few small joys pictured here: kate doing her own bottle, a cute bow i made for her, rosie being a great inside dog and loving kate, kate watching "little einsteins" and being thoroughly entertained.
my cold is getting better. i'm on some meds that are helping, and i'm feeling better. thank God! kate has a runny nose but hopefully it will stop at that. the humidifier is running as i type. she took a 3 hour nap today and went to bed very early. she must have been worn out! her daddy was so sweet to take care of her this a.m. to let me sleep in until 11. the cold medicines made me very sleepy and i couldn't wake up!
so please don't come visit us until all the germs are gone. i heard mumsy got sick from us-i hope tim and christa and the boys didn't get it!
God is so good to us. i love Him and i know He has a plan for me.