Mom, put down the camera. I'm not in the mood.

Yesterday, I tortured my kid by making him "pose" for pictures. He was NOT in the mood (see above pic). That didn't slow me down one bit. Poor kid. I thought I'd share a few of what we did.

































This one is my favorite. Such a sweet baby (as I type that, he's yelling at me....):

Swimming!!

The first day at our hotel here in Dallas, Wyatt & I jumped into the pool. He LOVED it!! We had a really good time. David was there to take pictures and watch Wyatt take his first dip. We are probably going to jump in again today and enjoy the water. It's been very hot here and the pool is indoors. We don't have to worry about getting sunburnt. It's a nice bonus to this hotel.

I thought I'd share some pictures. I think this little guy is going to be a fish. He loves bath time, he loved the pool... maybe we have an Olympic swimmer! :)

mommy, I'm so tired. Please leave me alone

My poor kid... I just wanted to take some pictures. :)

More to come later!

Independence Day (and more pictures!)

We had a very relaxing Independence Day! We all slept in (even Wyatt!) and had a very leisurely morning. We loaded up and went shopping for a video camera, had a delicious lunch, more shopping, then we went to the rodeo in Belton. It was a very relaxing day. We had a good time even though it was ridiculously hot outside. We spent all of the day inside, so it worked out.


Wyatt enjoyed his first rodeo so much, he slept right through it! The rodeo started at 7pm. Wyatt is normally headed for bed around 8. We had a big day, so he was tuckered out. The sound was incredibly loud and it was physically painful to my ears. I was worried about Wyatt's little ear drums--if he's going to lose his hearing to sound damage, at least let it be his own choice, not because I wanted to go to a rodeo when he was 3 months old. The rodeo was indoors, so the sound just reverberated off of everything. Wyatt spent the evening with a blanket wadded up around his ears. I'm hoping that was enough of a muffler. He was not happy about his ears being covered, but he eventually fell asleep. He slept pretty well, but he'd jump and make faces every time the buzzer went off for the rough-stock events.


The rodeo was an evening rodeo and didn't finish until almost 10pm! We didn't get to see fireworks this year. It was a bit disappointing, but we weren't too upset. It really was miserably hot and fireworks are an outdoor activity. We saw a few fireworks on the drive home from people setting them off in their yards. That was kind of fun. Over all, we had a good Independence Day and a very fun weekend.

For now, we are headed up to Dallas for David to get some flight time in. I'm confident I can find some good shopping up there. haha!! The hotel we are staying at has an indoor pool. I am planning for Wyatt & me to get some good swimming time in--it will be the first time in a pool for him. I might be able to convince David to do the pool tonight so that he can take pictures of us. He will be working the entire week, so tonight is the only chance to have a photographer. I need to go get us packed so we can drop Cory off at the boarding place and we can hit the road!

OH--most importantly... I know you want to see pictures. HERE (click the word "here") are a few from the last several weeks. These pictures were mostly taken by my mom. I've taken a few since she left, but not nearly as many.

Wyatt rolled over!!

He did it twice even!! I set him down on his tummy (which he HATES) and he flipped over right away. I wasn't going to count that because it happened so fast, I figured it had to be because of the way we set him down. I flipped him back over and shortly after that, he rolled to his back again. This time I wasn't touching him at all, so I figure we can give him credit for it. I've since flipped him back to his tummy and he's TICKED, but not rolling over. So it was probably an accident, but kinda cool at the same time. He's getting pretty good and pushing his head up to look around when he's on his tummy. But, he really really hates being on his tummy.

Already a battle of the wills...

I never thought it would start this early. But it has. Wyatt & I disagree and we are BOTH determined to get our way. Wyatt wants to be a thumb-sucker. I am absolutely opposed to it. I have about 47 pacifiers in this house and he can have any style or color he wants of those. However, he'd rather have his thumb. I'd rather he have a pacifier because it is better for the development of his mouth (don't have a thumb pulling against the roof of his mouth), and mainly because you can take a pacifier away. You cannot take a thumb away. Wyatt is quick! He gets that thumb in there fast. I'm not sure if he's teething already because the boy has some drool! He is a drool factory right now and he really wants his fists and anything else in his mouth at all times. He even will chomp on his hands through socks or sleeves. I keep pulling out his hand and popping in the pacifier. He'll go with the pacifier for a bit, but seems to prefer his hands. I just hope I am more determined than he is about this. The only bad part is that I cannot constantly be on thumb-patrol. I've got stuff to do!

In other news... It's still crazy busy around here. Let me just summarize the last 7 days:
Wednesday--got my cast off, returned my scooter, picked up dad from the Airport in Austin.
Thursday--breakfast with David so dad could see him, time with mom and dad, then they get sent off.
Friday--Family Day at the lake for David's unit
Saturday--an AWESOME visit with Tom & Sheila who came up from Houston.
Sunday--church with a potluck, finishing up the family book for deployment that has consumed me for the past month
Monday--Wyatt & I spent ALL DAY at the unit to create & construct the books for deployment. Wyatt did amazing! I wore him all morning and he slept for 3 hours while I worked. Then he hung out in his stroller and was content all day! Now I am convinced this kid doesn't belong to me!! haha!! After we finished what we could of the books, it was time for our pre-deployment brief.
Tuesday--Today I am catching my breath! Wyatt & I slept until 9. We were both exhausted after yesterday (we all got home after 9pm!). I have about 4 loads of laundry to fold, I am desperately behind in cleaning, and I need to get bills paid.

Starting tomorrow, I have to take the FRG leadership courses for the next 2 days (again... I took it 5 years ago and I have plenty of experience, but it was "highly encouraged"). Then we have a 4 day weekend, then we are off to Dallas for David to get some flying done.

As always, I know that I need to share pictures of the little guy. I know that's the only reason some of you even read this--just to see the pictures. Of course, who knows if you are even reading this part, this could all just be filler around the pictures for you... So to keep you happy, here are some of my fav's. I have been REALLY bad about taking pictures this last week (I cannot imagine why, I've had absolutely nothing going on...).

Family play time on the floor.

Wyatt was soooo tired, but really didn't want to fall asleep!

Love this shirt from Aunt Miriam!!

He is a very happy baby!!

FINALLY asleep. He fights it sooo hard!

Got some big Praises to do...

I always love it when doctors are surprised. I KNOW I have a lot of people praying for me. I know that we are so abundantly blessed with so many wonderful people in our life. I know God answers prayer!

I got my cast off yesterday. The next step was supposed to be a walking boot for 2-6 weeks. Then PT with a brace (flexible) and then I'd be done. We did the x-rays and he came in and said that it healed REALLY well. He said that I could do the walking boot (completely immobilizing the ankle) or I could skip ahead to the lace-up flexible splint. He really felt like the boot was not necessary at all. He said that I can slowly put more and more weight on it over the next 3-4 days, then just keep walking. Once I'm fully weight-bearing without pain, then I can drive. He said 2-3 weeks! PLUS, I don't have to do PT!! He gave me a resistance band, a few exercises to do and sent me on my way. I don't have to see him again unless I have problems. He said he doesn't expect to ever see me again!! He is a fantastic doctor and he was wonderful through all of this. I'm really sore now. The cast had me pain-free for almost a month now. I had some incision pain, but that's about it. Without the cast, I can really feel the sprain that came at the same time as the break. I'm also having a hard time easing myself into weight-bearing. I'd love to just jump in. Today I probably did too much. I'm pretty achy. The muscles are very very sore and weak. It's not horrible, but it's a bit annoying. It is nice to be able to set this foot down completely while on the crutches. I've already returned my scooter. I am hoping to be walking by Sunday!

We've also found a church here that I really like. The people have been so great and very friendly. Several people have personally offered to come drive me anywhere, cook a meal, sit and visit, or anything I need. It is wonderful especially since we've only gone there for the last 3 weeks. I really look forward to Sunday mornings. I'm glad we found some place where we can feel like we fit in even though it is for such a short time.

Another great thing... I've been doing FRG (Family Readiness Group) for several years. I've done 2 full deployments as a leader, and another deployment as a support volunteer. Last time, I had a very hard time finding enough volunteers. This time, we have plenty of volunteers who are excited and ready to tackle FRG!! This is so encouraging to me! I've been working on a deployment handbook for families and it's really coming together. I think we have a great group of people.

I just thought it would be nice to have a post about all the good things happening here in TX. God has been very good to us. Even though we have had so many challenges and "speed bumps" it's all going really well. God has answered so many prayers, I cannot even count them. Thank you again for all your prayers, support, encouragement, notes, and calls. You have helped more than you know!