The Thompson Family

Hi to Grammy and Dee!

2008-09-15T12:34:00.000-07:00

From Crackle: Sep 11 2008 - post nap

Back from Mexico!

2008-08-03T21:03:00.000-07:00

We just got back from a great week with my folks at their place in Puerto Vallarta. We played at the pool, the beach, in the city and up in the hills. We had lots of cervezas, and my dad's new invention out of neccessity, which we dubbed the "Sangre de Coco" or "blood of the coconut." (It got down to the last day and we had coconut rum and cran-grape juice in the fridge, so there you have it. ) Anyway, a few pics to share:

The view from our balcony. The pyramid has a big water slide coming off of it, and the big pool is the "alberca de olas"--wave pool.
Banderas! Here we are getting ready to take off on our dune buggy adventure. The banderas were to keep dust and bugs out of your mouth, but its importance increased when Matt hit a pile of wild donkey shit and it splattered all over me.

They had a great kids' water park at the resort that only guests could use. Asa went down this slide about 20 times in a row.
Ace and Grammy in our bed by the water.
Matt doesn't resemble a happy camper OR sex machine in this photo. We hit one touristy spot in Vallarta--Senor Frogs--and paid the price, literally and figuratively.
Ahhhhhh, here we are with Senor Frogs several blocks, two bridges, balloon hats and a rain storm behind us at Cuates y Cuetes, a recommendation from our good friends who visit here often. $2 Coronas on the beach.

Juice!

2008-07-22T13:57:00.000-07:00

Poor, deprived Asa rarely gets juice, so when he does it's a monumental event. He's actually very good and not squeezing the boxes too, or else he just drinks it so fast by the time he squeezes, it's empty. Here he is playing by the cool dog house our friends made for their son J.R.s doggie-themed party.

Is my kid normal?

2008-07-10T12:18:00.001-07:00

I think this is a question every parent asks. Like when all the other kids can walk. Or talk. And your kid can't yet. Or if they get lots of ear infections and it's scary. Or they won't sleep, or hate eating or refuse to get in the tub, or a myriad of other things you get paranoid about. In that realm, Asa seems fine. He's on schedule, healthy and a pretty coordinated kid. No, I ask the question, "is my kid normal?" every day while I watch him play, in hopes that the answer is undoubtebly "NO! He's not!" becuase as strange as he is, I totally get him. And he's a rock star.

Now I know you're thinking, "ohhhhh, Kirk, you're crazy!", so here is a "Candid Camera" video I took of Asa, who was supposed to be eating his dinner. (We are working on his table manners, but he's not there yet.) He was just being a weird kid as usual, and so Matt could see it, I quietly put the camera at the end of the table and walked to the other side of the kitchen and just let him go ahead and be, well, not normal. He's real into smelling things and going "blah" (like feet and armpits, and pillows, blankets, the dog, the potty, food, and well, anything else) which seems to be the core of the hilarity here.

Help!

2008-06-30T13:12:00.000-07:00

More Party Pics

2008-06-29T16:05:00.000-07:00

Not everyone was all smiles at the party. My friend Ariel's son Barrett had seen a truck inside he really, really wanted. I feel bad laughing in what Barrett saw as a terrible situation, but that bottom lip is just the cutest:

Here are some neighbors going down the slide...

Asa and Caitlin in the pool:

Kayla showing off her alien cupcake:

Asa is 2!!

2008-06-29T15:53:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to my sweet boy! What a ride the last two years have been. We celebrated a week after his birthday with a good old-fashioned backyard party. Matt set up sprinklers and pools--and the ultimate hit of the party...an inflatable pool at the end of the slide on the fort.

Here is Ace's cake (obviously made by mommy)...the red planet surrounded by menacing aliens.

A close up of the aliens.

I was busy keeping everyone happy and finally noticed Asa was lingering around the muffin/mini donut basket. My sister informed my that he was double-fisting the powdered donuts and had eaten eight of them, followed by a watermelon chaser. Powdered sugar + watermelon juice = thick pink paste that sticks to everything.

Here are some of the kids going for the water baloons.

Here is Asa atop the "water slide."

Fun Weekend

2008-06-29T15:45:00.000-07:00

This weekend my sister and brother-in-law came to visit with thier two kids, and we had a blast. For Kayla's early bday present, I took her to the new American Girl Place and she loved it. That place was nuts, and I tried to think of a boy equivalent of it, but couldn't think of one. Maybe 50-yard-line tickets to the national championship or something?

Here is Kayla at dinner with her doll Nicki. They give you a special seat so your doll can eat at the table with you.

Here are Ace and Kendall (who is 11 mos) looking out the window.

I took Ace to the sprayground by our house the other day and he loved it:

Hulk Face!

2008-05-12T20:22:00.000-07:00

Okay, one more pic tonight, then I have to go to bed. Ace has this t-shirt with the Incredible Hulk on it, and one day when he had it on, Matt taught Ace to do "hulk face." He'll look at you and frown real hard and scrunch up his mouth...usually while trying to surpress a smile, making it even cuter. This photo doesn't do Hulk Face justice, I caught it just after the good frowning part. I'll try and catch a better one.

Festival Fun

2008-05-12T20:10:00.000-07:00

The Lake Highlands Jr. League does a big 5K fundraiser with a family festival thing at the end. Um, we didn't make it to the running part, but took advantage of all the fun anyway. Ace is real into cows, however, even with a real one an arm's length away, he was more interested in the other kids playing behind him.

Asa's favorite cow of all...the Chik-fil-A mascot. Poor guy is so small he was following cow around forever waving and saying "Hie, Hieeeee" and couldn't get his attention. After mommy tugged on cow's tail and pointed down, Asa got an up close meet and greet.

Petting the baby goats was a favorite.

Party time...

2008-05-12T20:06:00.000-07:00

Asa got a snake painted on his arm at our neighbor's birthday party and he LOVED it. He kept looking at his arm and going "ssssss." Then he woke up from his nap and had green paint all over his face, so the snake had to go.

Tons of stuff going on at this party, and Ace kept sweeping with the broom. I hope this habit sticks.

Asa's first boat trip

2008-05-12T20:01:00.000-07:00

Our next door neighbors have a boat and invited us for a quick outing since they needed to get it out of storage and into the water. Asa LOVED it, though he insisted on being in the driver's seat most of the time...

Our nieghbor James was nice enough to let Asa be captain.

We docked up across the lake for some good cajun food, and Asa was wound up for the ride back. He liked the wind on his face...

Egan's Visit

2008-05-12T17:08:00.000-07:00

Our friends have a new baby on the way, so they came up to Dallas for a baby shower and to get the boys together to play. Amy had another shower to go to for a friend here, so it was me and all the boys at the arboretum. Here are Asa and Egan at the "Mug Shot" area by the root beer float stand.

Asa was absolutely enamored with Egan the entire time, and the picture below is a moment repeated all weekend long...Egan was all about Asa's trucks and Asa just wanted to play.

Asa giving Egan huggies...

Asa on daddy's shoulder leaving the arboretum.

shoes = outside

2008-03-17T19:34:00.000-07:00

I'm glad the weather is getting better because Asa is OBSESSED with going outside. He figured out very quickly that putting on shoes usually meant we were doing something outdoors. He follows me around now going "shoes?, shoes?, shoes?, shoes?, shoes?, shoes?, shoes?," then when I put them on he gets this real high pitched innocent voice and says, "go outsseye?" Anyway, he LOVES pointing out dog poop and going "ewwwwwww, blechh," so we decided we better get him more things to do out there. Here he is with his new sandbox. He loves it. He still checks out the dog poop first thing though.

Here he is atop the climber/slide/fort thing we got him. Where he's standing in this photo is about 4' off the ground. Sunday, he started pushing up above the crawl hole you see and lifting his feet off the ground, which we kept telling him not to do. Eventually, it happened, he flipped head first over the top of it--but never fear, mommy jumped from the chair and caught him just before he hit the ground. The only casualty was the last of my cheap pinot and the logo wine glass I was using--a small price for avoiding the emergency room.

Happy Easter 2008!

2008-03-17T19:26:00.000-07:00

Asa just wanted to pass along Asa's Easter happiness!

I got lots of great shots of his back, though, but this one is the best. This is our next door neighbors' daughter Caitlin, and she and Ace get along beautifully. They held hands for a long time and just laughed and giggled down the path.

The clouds parted for about 10 seconds today, making the only decent shot of Asa today a squinty and blurry one. Oh well...next year!

A couple of overdue Christmas shots

2008-03-10T18:46:00.000-07:00

We learned this Christmas that all we needed to buy Asa was a couple of nice cardboard boxes and wrap them in paper. No--he didn't want to play IN them, he just wanted to climb on them. After a little coaxing and a lot of help, he figured out there was something good inside.

After Christmas, we headed to San Antonio to hit the Alamo Bowl with our best friends. Here are the boys up to no good...we caught them digging around in Amy's cabinets:

Back for more blogging

2008-03-10T18:44:00.001-07:00

I'm sure by now the hiatus in blogging has now dropped us off the map with all of our baby-blogging friends. But just in case you still stop by now and then, more pics of Ace should be coming soon...thanks for your patience! The new year has brought employee changes at work, new responsibilities, sicknesses and new friends, which has cut into blogging time.

PTA party

2008-01-18T14:54:00.000-08:00

I took Asa to a party our Early Childhood PTA put on. At first he was a wallflower--wouldn't wander off too far, or just wanted to go outside and run around. When the silly children's singer came on, he started to slowly forget he was afraid...

Watching from the back of the house...

Getting a little braver...

Finally, right in the middle of things dancing away. He forgot he didn't like it...

Christmas Card Rejects

2008-01-18T14:44:00.000-08:00

We didn't get our Christmas cards out in a timely manner this year either. In fact, not everyone on our list even got one. (Sorry if you were one of those!) It wasn't lack of trying though. I tried to get pictures on several occasions, all with the same result (the last of which is shown below). Finally, a couple days before Christmas, a plane happened to fly over while I was snapping "crying santy" pics and distracted Asa long enough to get one non-crying (though red-faced) shot. Here are a couple that didn't make it:

Trip to "the Coast"

2007-12-05T13:26:00.000-08:00

Also in November, I headed to Biloxi, Mississippi for a reunion of sorts with lots of my old sorority sisters. We were celebrating Laura Leverette's engagement with lots of good food and a trip to the spa at The Beau.

Here's the whole group after dinner in Ocean Springs:

Me and Katie at the Jordan River Steamer in the Kiln. I wonder if Brett Favre has eaten here?

After Melanie and Kate suggested we "eat something light, like a fruit plate," while at the Beau for several hours, our next stop was a no-brainer:

(crappy photos of) Halloween 2007!

2007-12-05T13:21:00.000-08:00

Halloween was crazy. I work on Wednesdays so it was a mad rush trying to get Asa ready and fulfill my obligation to set up a game at the neighborhood Halloween party. I couldn't get everything accomplished that I wanted to in the 40 minutes I had, so photos, and an additional piece of velcro Asa's costume needed, were cut. Here are a couple I got at the end. Don't step on his blue suede shoes!

Another trip to Albuquerque

2007-12-05T13:11:00.000-08:00

In November, Asa and I went to Albuquerque to visit Grammy, Dee and Honey (my mom, dad and grandma.) We had a great time and Grammy and Dee took Asa all sorts of cool places. Here is Asa and Dee at the aquarium and botanical gardens looking at the pond:

Playing in the big carrot...

With Honey and Dee...

We took Asa to my dad's barber to get his second haircut. It was a breeze...I braced for crying or more, and he was just as calm as could be.

Asa loves to play outside. Unfortnately, he inherited his dad's knack for stepping in poop, which Grammy realized just as I snapped this photo.

More recent pics

2007-11-06T17:10:00.000-08:00

In October, our good friends the Mazeikas came to visit and we all watched the A&M-Tech game together. Here are the boys freshly bathed and running around in their skivvies:

And the bath...

I wanted to get some photos of Asa with this pumpkin, but he would only hold it for about 2 seconds and throw it down and/or run off. Here's the best two I got, if that tells you anything.

After a month of nagging, Matt finally replaced the ugly gold flusher on the potty. These kind of jobs aren't so bad when you have a helper.

Pics from the family visit

2007-11-06T17:06:00.000-08:00

Here is my sister Erin with my new niece Kendall. She was three months old in this picture.

Kayla with Kendall.
Kayla pushed Ace around in an empty diaper box and he loved it.

WE'RE BACK!

2007-11-06T16:54:00.000-08:00

I can't BELIEVE it's been more than a month since we last posted. It has been crazy here with some work projects, lots of playgroups and new things to do in the 'hood and some visitors too. I'll get started with some photos from the State Fair. My sister and her family (including my brand new niece Kendall) came in town for the festivities.

Here is Asa just chilling out while cousin Kayla got an LSU Tiger painted on her face. I tried to talk her into a Golden Eagle, but she wasn't having it.

Here is the finished Tiger. Pretty cool, huh?

Here is the fair barker that performs every hour. We got there early and I didn't tell Kayla anything about it. That curtain opened, and man, I thought she was going to jump out of her skin.

Does anyone remember BORIS from last year's fair pictures? Well, he was back this year. Asa has gained a couple pounds on him, but needs to put on 1,144 more to match him. To give you an idea of just how massive Boris is...

...Here is a photo of his balls. Though now I'm regretting I didn't put something near them to show the relative size, like a quarter. Or Honda Civic.

Fat Lip

2007-09-27T13:47:00.000-07:00

Here is Big Ace with a big fat lip. He slipped and fell on the floor. I feel crappy about it, but he only cried for a mintue and is a-ok.

Odds and Ends

2007-09-27T13:38:00.000-07:00

If I ever look up and don't see Asa right under foot, I know the first place to look. The dog beds. He loves them and just gets right in the middle and plays quietly. Today, though, the bed was occupied and neither wanted to give an inch.

Last Saturday was Pop-Pops birthday and we had a great day. This was taken at halftime of the Tech game. Barkely has gotten good at bracing for all sorts of things coming from Asa.
We took Asa to the sprayground and park the other day. This is a shot of the little guy on the big sidewalk.

Here is the sprayground. What's missing? Asa wouldn't go near it.

Feeding himself

2007-09-27T13:26:00.000-07:00

We've been slowly introducing silverware at mealtime, and Asa isn't really interested other than throwing it on the floor. Until I gave him chocolate pudding. He quickly realized the value of the spoon as a means to a very tasty end:

Happy. Sad. Happy. Frustrated. No wait, happy.

2007-09-23T18:27:00.000-07:00

Ahhh how quickly the moods of a toddler change. Below is a classic example of cry to laugh in 3.5 seconds:

Asa walking around

2007-09-23T17:55:00.000-07:00

I got Asa one of those ball popper push things like we used to have. He was so funny, because he'd go out of his way to get it situated so he could pull it behind him. If I tried to get him to push it, he would get upset. Wonder what's going through that little head.

The Halloween that Never Was...

2007-09-10T18:39:00.000-07:00

I had to run to the mall today to get something for Asa to wear for our pictures this week and came across the most fabulous Halloween costume ever. I bought it, rushed home and told Matt: I got Wee-Diddy's Halloween costume and he's gonna be--drrrrrrrrrrrrrrumrollllllllll--a Peacock!

Silence.

Needless to say, Matt was NONE too thrilled about it because he thinks Asa "looks like the grand marshall of the gay parade." Well, maybe he does, because the grand marshalls of the gay parades I've seen are always super-duper FABULOUS. Well, at least I got photos of him in it (he LOVES it by the way, and he strutted all over the house, well, like a peacock) but alas, I will be returning it and probably getting something ordinary like a spider or shark. Although, with this flexible return policy, I could get a whole array of super-fab photos. Hmmmmm.

Good Lord, the DRAMA!

2007-09-10T18:31:00.001-07:00

Sorry about that dramatic post from Saturday night. It's kinda funny now. Right? Well, everybody is a-ok now...no fever for Asa, my ear feels tons better and Mattie is back with only a mild hangover, lots of stubble and a suitcase that smells like farts. (I would have predicted much worse smells having been in a room with five guys who drank beer for an entire weekend.) Only the transmission in the ol' Jeep didn't fare so well, but we'll have her back in order in no time. Thanks so much for everyone's calls, posts, e-mails and other sympathies. We really appreciated it.

Here is Asa feeling good in his new Spider Man shirt:

A long, long weekend.

2007-09-08T21:47:00.001-07:00

WARNING: This is a long post. I mean super long. I suggest you don't even read it. Just wait for pictures with short quips under tham at a later date. This is really just theraputic, and to take up time waiting until Asa wakes up again crying. (which I'll get to later. In case you decide to trudge through this) So, back to the long weekend. It started off early--Thursday for us--as Matt left for his annual guys weekend. He flew to Pittsburgh to the Penn State/Notre Dame game. "Oh, did Matt go to *penn state*or*notre dame*?" you ask. No, he went to Texas Tech. But that's a whole other story and not really relevant to this posting which is about ME and MY weekend. And since I do the posting, I get to be selfish about the content. Anyway, by Thursday morning I had a pretty severe double ear infection and was none too thrilled about the weekend alone with Wee-Diddy, because I was unable to chew or really talk very well, and I felt like I wouldn't be much fun for him and I'd have the guilty feelings after asking him every hour "wanna go nite-nite yet?" Have any of you had ear infections as an adult? I mean one time the nurses forgot my pain meds after my c-section, which was horrible, and that was cake compared to this. This is bring you to your knees and cry kind of pain. And your ear stinks. Not that I can smell my own ear, but before they swelled shut,and were only slightly painful, I did stick a q-tip in there and my ear was full of stinky ick. I didn't take the "good stuff" from the dr, because I knew I'd be alone with the little guy and didn't want to be zombied out or unable to drive or whatever. Oh. Well, driving didn't end up being much of an issue.

Flash back to Thursday evening. I loaded everyone up and dropped Matt off at the ariport. (DFW, not Love Field, so it was far away.) Nothing unusual happened on the way there, but as I was passing through the toll booth on the way out, my car just died. In the line at the toll booth. As in "oh shit the car died and I'm inna big line and can't pull over and I have the baby" died. I managed to pay, and get another two miles along the highway shoulder going about 2 miles an hour. Then the car crackled a lot and smoke started coming out everywhere. I got to a gas station, and quickly unloaded Asa (because I was SURE it was going to blow up like on TV) and called Matt's brother who thankfully was still at work like 10 minutes away (a fortunate coincidence.) Uncle Mark rescued us and we arranged to have the car towed. I thought my left ear was gonna explode by this time, and poor Mark had to hear me complain all the way home. So we get home okay (after getting a banana for Ace at the gas station because I had no dinner for him and he was starting to get nasty) and I tough it out Friday (AND through Matt's phone call Saturday morning where he's telling me all about his friend's 108" flat screen TV and foosball table and how they stayed up till 6 a.m. drinkin' beer.) Yah, that's great hun. I was up till 6 a.m. too. With a warm compress on my freaking ear, convinced I really had an annuerism or brain tumor or an alien eating away my flesh and debating with my dog Hatcher if maybe I should go to the emergency room. By this piont I've weighed the odds of the "stomach bleeding" warning on the tylenol bottle, I decide I'd rather deal with a bleeding stomach than my ear, so I just take 3 even though I just took two Aleve an hour before. I finally doze off around 6, so I guess the ear pain subsided, but Ace woke up at 7:30. My face was still wet from the tears. No joke. But I was actually looking forward to the day (Saturday) because Matt's dad said he'd take Asa for a few hours so I could rest. That was going to be cool. I had my day planned, and I was going to "rest" watching OU-Miami, then Oregon-Michigan while flipping back and forth from A&M-Fresno State, and topping it off with Southern Miss on Pay Per View, then maybe ice cream and LSU-Va Tech. (No, Asa wouldn't be gone that long, but I figured it'd be okay for him to watch a little too. Since my ear hurt an all.) Ahhhh, couldn't wait. But I go get little guy out of bed and what...hmmm...you feel a little warm, baby boy. But it was just a little fever, like 99. New teeth I figure. A bit of Tylenol, breakfast and we're off. When I get him up from his nap though, he's got red cheeks and a 102 fever. Shit. I call mom. I call the doctor. I give him a cool bath. Everything seems okay, and I'm finally getting a grip on the reality of the day, when, as I'm redressing Ace, I catch Barkley just finishing up dragging ass across the new carpet followed by a horrible smell. So he just emptied that sack or whatever all over the carpet, I think. Great. I "spot shot" that and me and Ace throw in the towel and cozy up on the couch and watch some football together. Wiping up the remnants of my dog's anal gland definitely wasn't on my schedule for the day. Poor Asa. Poor mommy. Poor Michigan!

SOOO, here I am, 12:45 Saturday night because baby boy keeps waking up about every hour and a half and my dang ear still hurts too bad to sleep. As soon as I pick him up, he immediately zonks back out on my shoulder, but we just rock and rock anyway. My poor, poor angel.

Oh, so that leaves the car. You will be relieved to know that it should be under warranty, because it's a 2005 and only has 21,000 miles. Except it was "lost" for most of yesterday, so when the dealership finally got it around 3, it was, of course, too late to start on it. I haven't heard anything since, and I actually didn't even think about it till I started writing this, so I guess I better call on Monday. I asked Matt if the Jeep did in fact blow up could I please have the big Lexus SUV, but he said "no", even though I feel like I really deserve it after this weekend. He also said something about "importance of contributing to IRAs" and "college fund," "retirement," "cash flow," but my ear, you know. It's kind of hard to hear.

Hey, so this post isn't a total wash, here's a picture for you to look at. It's my dog Hatcher, who I talked to for the past two nights when I was delirous with pain, and he patiently listened with what I swear was real concern in his big brown eyes. Yes, Matt, I let him get in the bed with me too. Thanks, Hatcher, for being there. I love you.

We have liftoff!

2007-08-29T08:44:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday Asa took his first steps. We weren't prompting him or anything. I was sitting on the couch talking to him, and he just...walked off. Here's a video of him taking a few steps. Last night he did a full loop around the house, so I guess it's just a matter of days till he really gets the hang of it.

Asa's first haircut

2007-08-23T18:05:00.000-07:00

We took Asa on Saturday to get his very first haircut. I took him to this circus-like kids-only place for the pictures really, because the cut ended up being like $19 and that's just crazy for a baby. I mean really, she only had to cut like 10 hairs. Anyway, this is the waiting area at the haircut place. Asa LOVED the table with the big Legos, and we realized after a few minutes that he was going to be upset when we had to take him away for the haircut. He was.

But, he got over it really quickly, because he got to sit in this very cool firetruck for the haircut. He enjoyed the real steering wheel.

Here he is all ready for his cut...what an angel!

But as soon as the water hit him, it all went to hell in a handbasket. Here is daddy consoling poor Asa (read: holding him still).

Here's a shot of Asa batting the stylist's hand away. I told him "no," but I was secretly laughing, becuase, heck, I'd freak out too if those NAILS were coming at me.

TA-DAH! The finished product, and all happy again!

Another Trip to the Zoo

2007-08-23T17:56:00.000-07:00

We went to the zoo again a couple weekends ago and I forgot about the pictures!

This is the koi fish tank in the Children's Zoo. Asa tried to eat the fish food, so I threw it in for him.

Asa was stylin' in his wagon. Thanks Grammy and Dee!

A visit from Holden

2007-08-17T11:25:00.000-07:00

Our friend and former neighbor came over with her son to play today. He was a joy! Asa on the other hand has taken to hitting other kids. He just can't seem to express himself any other way. The doctor said it's normal, but I just hate it and he got a couple time outs today. Here is a photo of Asa being really nice though (they were few and far between today!)

Trying to keep cool

2007-08-17T11:17:00.000-07:00

The heat index has been over 100 every day so we are trying to stay cool. One way is afternoon baths, during the heat of the day. Our new sink is big enough to bathe Asa in, and he loves it. I was blowing huge bubbles for him this time. I highly recommend getting a helper if you want to get good pictures of it though. I about dropped the camera in the water a few times.

He was super tired for this bathtime and unusually serious in the water. All my pics look like this one:

Pop-pop gave Asa this cool pool for his first birthday. He cooled off on the back patio with daddy in the pool.

Barkley thinks the water in the pool tastes way better than what's in his bowl.

We're a few weeks behind...

2007-07-23T19:32:00.000-07:00

I wanted to add a few more random shots to update you on what we've been up to the past few weeks. Lots of playing and learning every day. Asa and I have a couple favorite games we play a lot including this one where we get on opposite ends of the couch and he leans over to look at me peeking back:

I went to Baton Rouge to see my sister and as luck would have it my best friend from high school and her daughter Ella, were in Slidell for a visit, so we spent the night with them. Notice the quintessential Louisiana toys: Mardi Gras beads.

Here's Ella enjoying a yummy nectarine after her swim on the back patio.

Asa loves the wagon my folks got him for his birthday. When I'm not pulling him in it, he's walking around it and filling it with toys. I've found blocks, sippy cups, mail and all sorts of stuff in the bottom of this thing.

The other favorite game we play is "knock down the tower." I see how high I can get it built before Asa notices what I'm doing and hauls butt over to knock it down. This was a pretty successful one for me, as I even had time to get a photo before demolition:

Down it goes!

Update on the feeding...

2007-07-23T19:21:00.000-07:00

Okay, my photos are not in chronilogical order because I couldn't find the USB cord to this camera and then wanted to get the b-day photos up first. Anyway, smack in the middle of the "Battle of the Feeding" our good friends Paul and Amy came to visit with thier son Egan, who has been feeding himself for months (like a normal kid.) We all had ONE meal together, and that same day, Asa decided to put something in his mouth. It didn't seem like he was watching Egan all that closely, but I like to think he got the hang of it from his best friend. He LOVES his wagon, so to tempt him, I put some food in the wagon that evening (I was desperate, folks) and he ate all of that. I couldn't believe it! So then I put his high chair tray with food on the wagon, then the next morning, hooray, he ate a waffle and scrambled eggs all by himself in his high chair. Here he is enjoying his first self-fed meal at over a year old:

Here are Egan and Asa playing with the aforementioned wagon:

Happy Birthday Asa (Again!)

2007-07-23T11:02:00.001-07:00

Since we were Mexico for Asa's real birthday, we decided to have a little party here in Dallas so we could celebrate wtih our friends. For those keeping up with the blog, I'm happy to announce that Asa has been happily feeding himself for about two weeks. We'll have some photos of that later.

Our party theme was "Ace's Wild...and One." We did cake and all that, then little Ace went to bed and we played Texas Hold 'Em. Asa's invitation:

Asa's cake:

Singing Happy Birthday wasn't exactly what I had envisioned:

But when he got that first mouthfull of cake all was better. Just as he finished up his piece, it dawned on me that we didn't video it. The camera was two feet away and ready and we just forgot. Ugh.

Asa's One Year Checkup

2007-06-29T13:01:00.001-07:00

I took Asa to the doctor yesterday for his one year checkup. He is a little over 20 pounds and nearly 32 inches long, putting him in the 20th percentile for weight and the 90th for length. Oh, and his head is in the 90th percentile too. I guess if you didn't see pictures of him you might imagine he looks like a bobblehead doll. Poor guy had to get four shots and blood drawn to check for lead or something like that. Everything else checked out fine. One thing mommy wasn't doing was brushing his teeth with a real toothbrush, and our doc told us to start doing that. I was using pieces of gauze and wiping everything down. Heck, I didn't know, I'm pretty sure I read to do that somewhere. Oh well.

Also, today we have begun the battle of getting Asa to put food in his mouth by himself. I will not be posting pics of this event, because I'm hoping to erase it from my memory. What a weird kid that won't put ANYTHING in his mouth, right? Well, it's not weird anymore, it's awful. I have been putting a tray of food in front of him every 45 min. He opens his mouth like a little bird for mommy to put the food in, and when I dont? Screaming and kicking in the high chair, followed by lots more screaming. It's now been hours of intermittent screaming. The doctor said he'll eventually get hungry and start feeding himself, but how long can you do that? Any mommies out there with advice, I'd love to have it. Send to Kirk, c/o Whispering Glen Mental Institution.

More Mexico Photos

2007-06-27T14:09:00.000-07:00

Ace always enjoyed his warm post-swimming bath.

Looks like a postcard, doesn't it? This was the sunset outside our hotel.

"Little Guy" ate just about three eggs, a ton of refried beans, tortilla, potatoes and lots more on this morning.

Asa enjoyed his first birthday cake poolside on his birthday. Mommy enjoyed some too (it truly was darn good cake.)

Asa was so enamored with the waves we couldn't get him to look at the camera.

Happy Birthday Asa!

2007-06-27T09:36:00.000-07:00

We're back...and Ace is ONE!!!!

2007-06-27T07:32:00.000-07:00

We are finally back on track with the blogging! So many things have happened over the last three weeks, it's just crazy. First, we got all moved into our new house and are catching up with all of the remodeling. Everything is turning out great. Next, we left for Mazatlan, Mexico for a week with my parents. (Lots of good photos to come!) The very next day we celebrated Matt's very first Father's Day (and my dad's 39th.Hahaha) Lots of playing in the pool and at the beach...then time to celebrate Asa's first birthday in Mexico. We ordered a wonderful cake from the Panaderia Leon and celebrated poolside--and Ace got his first sugar high. His real party will be later this month, so we'll have the good old fashioned birthday pictures too.

Happy first Father's Day, Mattie! What better way to celebrate than with matching shirts for father and son? Matt totally agrees.

We gave Asa an orange wedge (yes, it was from one of those ridiculous rum-based coconut drinks) and he loved it. He still refuses to put anything in his mouth by himself, so this is as close as we've gotten to self feeding.

Matt and Ace enjoying our usual 10 a.m. snack: milk and cold Pacifico.

I know this might not be appropriate for a blog, but his little skinny bottom is just too cute. My little nakie-boy.

Stay Tuned....

2007-05-23T07:44:00.000-07:00

We are in the middle of a move and I have no computer or access to Internet from home right now. We should be up and running with lots of new photos of Ace in early June. It's a jam-packed schedule coming up...Matt is in Kansas City for work now, we move Tuesday, then Thursday I leave for Baton Rouge for my sister's baby shower. Next weekend off to a wedding in Houston, the next weekend to Mexico. I'm not sure we'll ever get unpacked.

However, for your viewing pleasure in the meantime, here are a few pre-baby photos I found on my work PC. I might even post more next week to keep you coming back. Ahhhhh....remember the good ol' days? Footloose and fancy free with no responsibilities? Yah, it was great, but I wouldn't go back for anything!! Being a mom is just too sweet.

Some of you might be wondering why I'm so torn about moving away from my current neighborhood. It's hard to explain, because our block was definitely not the norm, and we still wonder how we all ended up there--and ended up being best friends. Nearly all the photos below include our best friends--and neighbors. We, uh, had a lot of parties.

Here we are sabotaging Camille's University of Kansas send-off party. We sat out front with a cooler blaring our respective school's fight songs on a loop. We also threatened to charge KU alum for parking.

Me and Matt before heading out at Halloween. "End of night" photos are in the safe.

Here's a block Greek toga party we hosted to kick off the summer Olympics. The party abruptly ended at 5 a.m. after a neighbor threw up on the deck after doing the OPA! thing like 10 times. Can you believe everyone left so early?

We all flew to New Orleans for my neighbor Paul's 30th birthday. He had no idea we were all going to be there and we surprised him onstage at Cat's Meow.

Matt sucked up his Texas Tech pride and put on the Aggie gear for the A&M/OSU game. Now THAT'S friendship!

Amy and I secretly bought shots for the guys at Razoo's on Bourbon Street. This is the clean picture. Boy, those shot girls are a little more aggresive than I remember.

Here's when the block went to Fredricksburg and Luckenbach for a weekend. Again, photos from later that night will not be made public. :)

Hope you enjoyed meeting the Crew!

Happy Mother's Day!

2007-05-13T19:36:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day to all of my wonderful girlfriends and family out there! I'm sure your day was as nice as ours. Matt loaded us up bright and early to go to the Dallas Arboretum. It was a beautiful day and Asa was a doll as usual. We played in the toad fountain and listened to some music on the grass. I feel so lucky to be a mom--especially today.

We visit this fountain every time we come and Asa LOVES it. On Mommy & Me days there are tons of little kids running around in their underwear and I just park and let Asa watch them.

Here's Asa sitting on his daddy's tummy during the concert. Really just a guy playing the guitar, but it was nice.

They had a VW Bug and Bus completely covered in flowers. Very cool.

Check out my little laughing hyena!

2007-05-13T18:38:00.000-07:00

I was tossing Barkley some treats (actually, they were some of Asa's treats)--who knew it could be so funny?

Playing all the time!

2007-04-25T19:55:00.000-07:00

Asa loves to play and is learning new things all the time. Everytime I try to take a picture of him, he reaches for the camera. Check out his crazy hair.

Here he is looking for something new in the toy basket. He looks like a little old man in those pants.

For weeks I waited to get Asa the highly-rated "Busy Ball Popper." I finally saw it at Target (the darn thing was always sold out) so I snatched one. I got it out and Asa was as excited as I was. I put the batteries in and when I flipped the switch the thing sounded like a cheap hotel hairdryer coupled with crazy music. Asa freaked out, and after this episode, we couldn't even bring him in the same room or he would start crying. Poor guy.

90 bucks worth of toys

2007-04-25T19:41:00.000-07:00

surround this kid in the following photos...but he'd much rather play with the empty formula drum.

At the Dallas Zoo

2007-04-25T19:17:00.000-07:00

The weather was finally sunny and warm so we enjoyed a day at the Dallas Zoo. One of the first things we saw was the new Crocodile exhibit. Here's the croc (it doesn't even look real!):

Here's Ace watching the croc:

Safe in daddys arms (and doing the aforementioned funny mouth thing):

Funny Faces

2007-04-25T18:37:00.000-07:00

For the last three weeks or so, Asa has been doing all these weird things with his mouth and it's hilarious. He started sucking in his lips so much he was making a big chapped ring around his mouth. Below are just a few of the many faces he makes. The last one reminds me of that old Twilight Zone episode "Eye of the Beholder" where they do all the surgeries to make the woman look "normal." Hahaha..Mom, I know you saw that one!

Happy Easter!

2007-04-19T13:16:00.000-07:00

Here are a few Easter photos my friend Nikki took. Asa looks so grown up in his little outfit. Pictured with him is his cousin Kayla. For some reason on this particular day, Asa figured out how to scrunch his nose up and kept doing it in all the pictures. By the next day, that was old hat and he stopped.

Socks are funny!

2007-03-18T20:07:00.001-07:00

March at home.

2007-03-18T10:44:00.000-07:00

Asa and I visit the park by our house several times a week. He loves the swing, but even more, he loves watching the other kids play. He was locked on to a little boy that kept going down the slide next to the baby swings...

Watching the boy on the slide again...

Rock Chalk Jayhawk! Asa is cheering on our favorite to win the 2007 NCAA championship...the University of Kansas. Our neighbor Camille made sure he was appropriately outfitted for the game. Thanks Millie!

Asa's newest trick is to pull Barkley and Hatcher's ears and laugh. Hatcher sleeps through it, but Barkley always looks to me for help and an eventual rescue.

More from La.

2007-03-18T10:38:00.000-07:00

Asa just loves his cousin Kayla, and she loves him too. We had to wait a long time at the airport to come back to Dallas. We set up camp in a corner and he was a good boy the whole time.

Who wouldn't love this face?

Asa's first trip to Louisiana....

2007-03-18T10:30:00.000-07:00

We went to Louisiana to see my sister Erin, who is due with her second child in July, and her husband Kevin and daughter Kayla. Erin let us all crowd in the room for her sonogram, and we're happy to announce....it's a girl!! Here is Auntie Erin getting some practice in before the big day! (side note: Asa has been taking a bottle since January.)

Getting some good, hot crawfish was at the top of my "things to do while in Louisiana" list.

Here is Asa lauging at his silly cousin Kayla.
Here are Asa and Kayla playing.

February

2007-03-18T10:22:00.000-07:00

In February we got a surprise visit from my best friend Beth from high school. Her flight home to NYC from skiing was delayed due to bad weather, so she spent the night with us and met Asa for the first time...
Here is Asa playing in one of his favorite shirts:

Looks like Asa will skip the crawling thing altogether. He hates being on his stomach, knees or hands. (He can do all three, but whimpers the whole time and won't try to move.) Here he is up on his feet at our friends' Paul and Amy's house in San Antonio.

We're Finally Back!

2007-03-18T10:12:00.000-07:00

After a long hiatus, we are finally back and posting! Thanks to all of Asa's friends and family members who sent "nice reminder emials" to us. :) We have just been SO busy, but we should be back on track with few interruptions in the future. I guess the best thing to do is start where we left off, which I think was in January. Here is Asa in his winter clothes playing with his favorite blocks that Santa brought....

Here is Asa with my brother. They came to visit for the afternoon.

Some new pics

2007-01-27T18:43:00.001-08:00

Just catching up on some photos I've been taking over the last month. Asa is getting so big and doing something new every day. He's waving at us now (when he feels like it) but I have yet to get it on video. He is also sitting up and finally decided to roll over. He still hates being on his stomach, so he's only rolled back to front a couple times, and then starts whining. He's eating all sorts of stuff, but like his daddy, hates just about anything green.

Here he is playing in his new shirt. I had to run a rec to the DG house at SMU and didn't think about the fact that he had this on until I was inside.

Having some lunch in his new highchair:

In his new duck bathtub (that really quacks when you squeeze the bill):
Sitting up on his own!
Watching the Southern Miss GMAC Bowl game with mom and dad:

Asa's Baptism

2007-01-27T18:26:00.000-08:00

So sorry about the delay in posting, it's been a hectic couple of weeks, plus figuring out a new camera. We should be back on track now.

Asa was baptized on January 13 and we had a great time with our friends and family. We were especially happy to have my parents and grandma Honey in from out of town, along with our best friends Paul and Amy. Asa was such a good boy and only fussed a little at the beginning. All of our practice in the tub having water poured on his head paid off!

Here is our invitation. I don't have a scanner, so I took a picture of it (excuse the glare.)

Photos after the baptism with my family and Matt's dad:

More holiday...

2007-01-01T10:21:00.000-08:00

Christmas in New Mexico brought a couple more things too. First, SNOW, and tons of it. It really came down the day after we left and my brother and neices who drove were snowed in. The girls didn't seem to mind though, and here is my neice Lainy's snowman:

Second, Asa's first food! Here he is having his very first bites of peas, which I learned, he hates. He is a huge squash fan though, and tomorrow we start sweet potatoes. Mmmmm!

Christmas morning...

2007-01-01T10:18:00.000-08:00

Asa's most favorite gift of all was the sock monkey great grandma Honey made. Thanks Honey! He especially likes holding onto the tail. "Honey Monkey" (we call him) is going to be loved for a long, long time.

Asa opening tons of presents with his daddy:

Asa's first Christmas!

2007-01-01T10:14:00.001-08:00

We spent Asa's first Christmas in Albuquerque with my parents and my grandma Honey. We had a GREAT time and it was truly Christmas...snow and all. Santa still found us all the way in New Mexico.

Here is Asa with Dee (my dad) and thier dogs Oliver and Abita. I guess they would be Asa's aunt and uncle??

On the way to church on Christmas Eve with Dee:

Our family in front of the tree!

Our 2006 Christmas Card

2006-12-30T07:45:00.000-08:00

Below is our Christmas card. Isn't it cute? You may be wondering why you did not recieve one in the mail. Well let me take this opportunity to tell everyone reading to never order anything from www.invitingsmiles.com. We ordered our cards in plenty of time, and on December 23 (after recieving NO cards and getting NO responses from customer service) we got a lame email telling us they were very sorry, but our order wasn't processed. We are still waiting for a refund. Anyway, we hope to have New Year's cards on the way (after all it IS Asa's first holiday, so we couldn't completely miss it!) for your enjoyment. And remember folks, do not order from www.invitingsmiles.com!

Video of Asa in the Jumpy

2006-12-18T12:34:00.000-08:00

Asa around the house

2006-12-17T19:00:00.000-08:00

We haven't been doing too much lately, just playing a lot, doing some holiday shopping and getting work wrapped up so we can head to Albuquerque for Christmas. Here are some shots of Asa playing in his new jumpy thing and in his holiday outfit.

Back to San Antonio...

2006-12-06T09:40:00.000-08:00

We went to San Anotnio yet again to visit our friends Paul, Amy and Egan. After Uncle Paul had to change Asa's exceptionally stinky diaper, we might have finally worn out our welcome!! Here are some photos from our trip:

This is Asa in Egan's jumper. Of course he was SO enthralled with everything Egan was diong, there wasn't much jumping giong on. This was the look on Asa's face all weekend while he watched Egan do all sorts of cool stuff:

Amy and I got the boys new hats. I don't think this is why Asa started crying, but who knows. At least he was toasty warm.

Pure Cuteness...

2006-12-06T09:34:00.000-08:00

An Ordinary Day

2006-11-20T11:06:00.000-08:00

Here is Matt getting some last minute lovin' in before we headed out to the Motley Crue concert for his birthday. Our good friend Camille stayed with Asa so we could rock it out with the Crue.

Here we are going on a walk. It's been pretty chilly here. Believe it or not, Asa was asleep less than five minutes after this photo was taken.

We all have such high hopes for our little ones! Maybe someday they'll be a famous scientist, or quarterback for an NFL team. Someday they could help cure cancer! OR....

Asa's cousins come to visit!

2006-11-20T10:55:00.000-08:00

Asa's three cousins and Aunt Jana and Uncle Shannon came to Dallas last weekend for the SMU game and got to spend the night at our house. We all had a great time.

Here is Asa chillin' in his car seat. We went to get all kinds of good taco fixin's for everyone's visit.

Cousin Courtney is AWESOME with babies! She held Asa a lot and he thought that was pretty neat.

Here are Lainy and Cassidy in Matt's lap. They raided his closet while he was gone and found his secret stash of Tech houseshoes.

Asa in the yard

2006-11-15T07:24:00.000-08:00

We were at our neighbor's house across the street cooking out in the front yard (how ghetto is that?) and my friend's brother got some good shots of Asa. (Santa, if you're out there, I want a Nikon D-50 for Christmas, these photos are great!)

Race for the Cure

2006-11-05T11:14:00.000-08:00

We all walked in the Dallas Race for the Cure this year. There were more than 24,000 people there. It was freezing that morning (we had to meet up with my work folks at 6:45 a.m.!) Asa did great and enjoyed all the people watching. Here are Matt and Asa getting ready to go:

About to cross the starting line!

All bundled up during the race:

New photos of Asa

2006-11-05T10:35:00.000-08:00

Asa loves to hear daddy's favorite story...Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel. It had been a long time since Daddy read this story, and apparently he had forgotten just how long Mike Mulligan talks about his steam shovel. (He hasn't learned how to cheat and skip a few pages yet.)

Thanks Aunt Erin and Uncle Kevin for my cool Hawaiian outfit. Sorry I'm just now getting the photo up!

It's been getting cold at night so we have to bundle Asa up quick after bathtime. I think Asa just realized how cold it really was in this pic:

Matt and Asa just hanging out together...

Our (second) trip to San Antonio

2006-10-20T07:42:00.000-07:00

Asa and I went to San Antonio last weekend to visit our friends the Mazeikas. It was actually our second trip there, and Asa is great in the car. (I tried to load pics after the first trip, but the blogger thing wasn't working.) Anyway, we started off with some playtime.

Everything started out well:

Then Asa started hitting, which Egan didn't like very much. (Egan was playing VERY nicely.)

All the hitting kind of made Egan grumpy. Can you blame him?

We went to Boerne (just north of SA for you Mississppi folks) to shop. It was also a "hot rodder" weekend and there were tons of cars from the '30's there. Amy's friend Melissa met us here (her folks have a hot rod they were showing) and we had a great time.

Paul was very nice and offered to watch the boys Friday AND Saturday nights so we could go out and get some margaritas.

State Fair O' Texas

2006-10-15T16:53:00.000-07:00

We took Asa to the State Fair on Columbus Day and he loved it! We tried out Asa's new jogging stroller for the first time. He cried when we first put him in (he looked like he was ready to parachute out of a plane with all the harnesses) but he decided he liked it in the end:

Here are Asa and Matt taking a break in the shade:

Matt and I shared a funnel cake (with caramel and whipped cream!)...traditional fair fare. We also had (in no particular order) corny dogs, fried macaroni and cheese, fried Coke (new this year!), biscuits (free in the food and fiber pavilion!), donkey tails (hotdog stuffed with cheese then wrapped in tortilla and fried) and something I forgot the name of but was candy bar pieces, chocolate chips, marshmallows, cinnamon, coconut and fudge wrapped in a tortilla, dipped in pancake batter and--you guessed it!--FRIED. Don't worry, we washed it all down with some Miller Lites, which are only 2 points on the Weight Watchers plan.

We visted Boris II, a pig that weighs more than 1,200 pounds!

We went through the midway to look at all the new rides. Asa doesn't quite meet the height requirement yet.

Thumbsucker!

2006-10-15T16:07:00.000-07:00

Asa decided a few weeks ago that his hands are very tasty. When he's not trying to cram both fists in his mouth at the same time, he's sucking his thumb. It's really cute now, but we figure we'll be consulting the Dr. Sears book in a couple years to break a hard core habit.

More Halloween...

2006-10-05T17:55:00.000-07:00

The photo didn't really do the situation justice, so here is the video:

Taking a walk

2006-10-05T11:23:00.000-07:00

I flipped Asa's stroller from the bassinet to the "big boy" stroller about two weeks ago. Our neighbor Tiffany snapped this one of us as we were getting back from our morning walk.

Happy Halloween...for some of us.

2006-10-05T06:46:00.000-07:00

My best friend Amy and I had the brilliant idea to dress our kids up in oh-so-cute matching halloween costumes for the boys' first big holiday! We envisioned two rosy-cheeked babies just giggling and smiling away in their new outfits, and we were going to get tons of cute pictures. We soon found out that the costumes we chose are actually primitive baby-torturing devices (from the boys' point of view, anyway) so things went downhill pretty quickly. Unfortunately, Paul and Matt agreed with little Egan and Asa, so Amy and I turned out to be the big, bad stage mommies making thier kids perform under duress...

Three month photos

2006-10-05T06:30:00.000-07:00

Hanging out...

2006-09-18T19:30:00.000-07:00

Here is Asa just being cute...

Here is Asa before the Tech-TCU game on Saturday. At least HE looked good! TCU put a thumpin' on the Red Raiders. Boo!

Here is Asa with our neighbor Jason. It's the first time he's held a baby and he did a great job. (Matt was more than happy to let someone else hold him for a while...note background.)

Asa in the Bumbo!

2006-09-18T19:25:00.000-07:00

Asa is able to hold his head up and loves when I sit him up, so I thought it was about time to try out the bumbo chair.

This was his face when I first put him in it...

But after a few minutes, he loved being able to sit up on his own...

Giddy Up!

2006-09-18T19:21:00.000-07:00

Thanks for my new cowboy outfit Grammy...I love it!

Dallas Cowboy Fan?

2006-09-18T19:16:00.000-07:00

Well, sort of. Here is Ace checking out the new calender Pop got him. He even got it autographed by the cheerleaders themselves! Can you believe the actual CALENDAR part is only about a 3 inch by 3 inch square in the bottom right corners? I mean, what good is a calendar that doesn't even....ohhhhh.

Asa's new mobile....

2006-09-10T13:46:00.000-07:00

I got Asa this new mobile a couple weeks ago that attaches to the changing table. Here is a short video of him seeing it for the first time...

Are you ready for some football?

2006-09-05T18:34:00.000-07:00

We are!

Here is daddy giving Asa the ins and outs of football season, just as College Game Day was beginning on ESPN. (We LOVE CGD and are up and dressed each Satruday by the 9 a.m. start.) Matt was telling Asa what the day's schedule was and that they need to start off slow with the beer, because they have to make the case last well into the evening. Oh, and that there is NO crying after kickoff!

Here we are getting ready for Southern Miss' 2006 debut against Florida:

Ace is a BUD MAN and a SAINTS FAN! Thanks Grammy and Dee for sending Asa his Sunday uniform!!

Asa's First Trip

2006-09-05T15:52:00.000-07:00

Asa went on his first plane ride on August 22 to see Grammy and Dee (my parents) and his great grandmother, Honey, who all live in Albuquerque. We had a great time and Ace didn't make one peep on the plane either way. We also had two really nice ladies who wanted to sit by us (imagine that!) and they helped us the whole time. Nice to know there are still some good folks out there!

Here is Asa with Dee. Dee held Asa all the time! In the mall, at home, in the yard...and is really great at calming him down. (Though he really never got too upset while we were there.) Dee even watched him and changed his diaper so we could all eat dinner in peace. Thanks Dee!

Here is Asa with his great grandmother Honey. She's the best, and Asa figured that out very quickly...

Here is Asa meeting one of my parents dogs, Oliver. He'll love roughousing with Asa in a few years.

10 weeks old!

2006-09-01T16:04:00.000-07:00

This week Ace is 10 weeks old. He is growing so fast! We had our two month doctor appointment on Tuesday (actually a week late) and he wieghed in at 12 pounds 2 ounces and all measurements came out pretty average. Last week was Asa's first plane ride and we went to Albuquerque to see Grammy, Dee and great grandmother Honey. We will have pictures of that soon (I was having some trouble loading them for some reason.)

Happy Baby!

2006-08-18T08:19:00.000-07:00

Here are some more smiley pics of Ace:

Wanted to post this great one Amy got of Egan and Asa making their funny faces:

Go Eagles! SMTTT!

2006-08-18T08:07:00.000-07:00

Just look how happy Ace is to finally be in his Southern Miss suit! All that black and red gets tiresome. We're counting down the days till the season kicks off. Our Eagles are picked to come in second in thier c-usa division, but we know better.

Play group, August 9

2006-08-09T17:00:00.000-07:00

Today was our third week at our new neighborhood playgroup. The moms are so nice and the babies ages are seven months all the way down to Ace, who is seven weeks on August 10. We had a great time and are learning so much from the other babies (and moms!)

Asa and Egan are best buds:

Here's everyone:

2006-08-06T15:28:00.000-07:00

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This one's for Paul...

2006-08-06T14:56:00.000-07:00

Paul, Matt is going to KILL me for posting this. Those who know me well know I fell under the spell of "Aggie Spirit" after my first visit to Kyle Field in 1998. When I'm not cheering for Tech...I'm all for the Fightin' Texas Aggies (and then KU, Camille!). So when Asa started doing this, I was teaching him...

WRECKING CREW!!!!

Football season is around the corner!

2006-08-06T14:49:00.000-07:00

Matt is past ready for football season to start. Here is Ace all decked out in his football stuff. Get Your Guns Up!! Wreck 'Em Tech!**

**I'd like to note that it has been impossible to find newborn Southern Miss clothing, but I assure all my fellow Eagles who are viewing that Ace will be in black and gold by September. Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere! SMTTT!!

Asa is smiling!!

2006-08-06T14:39:00.000-07:00

This week Ace really started giving us some good smiles. You can tell when he's in the mood, and of course I can't leave him alone during these times. Who knew that baby smiles were so addictive?? It's been hard getting a picture, because every time I get the camera out he stops smiling to focus on the camera, but here are a couple:

A couple new photos

2006-07-27T11:06:00.000-07:00

Wanted to post the photo of Asa wearing the monkey outfit Grammy picked out for him. Mommy even remembered to put socks on before we went shopping. (I always forget and end up covering his poor toes up with a burper.)

On Saturday Asa and I went to Pop's house for a brunch at the Ashton. Ace was a very good boy and just slept and slept. He finally woke up when we went back up to Pop's apartment:

Asa's new friend

2006-07-22T14:54:00.000-07:00

Now that Asa is getting big enough, he can play with his best friend Egan. Egan's mom and dad have been our great friends for years and we're so happy for he and Ace to get to hang out. Here they are at thier first "play date," though Ace decided to be a bit of a cranky pants:

Egan isn't too sure about Asa just yet:

Asa finally decided that playing is pretty fun.

Many faces of Ace

2006-07-22T14:40:00.000-07:00

I thought this blog might give some folks the illusion that Asa is always a perfect angel. While he is very close to perfect, here is a pic of what went on a lot of Thursday:

But after a while, he will usually tire himself out...

This week I got Asa's first smiles out of him. I could never catch one in time, but this was at the very end of him smiling at his silly mommy:

2006-07-15T06:27:00.000-07:00