Tom the Artist

It comes as surprise to most people that Tom is a really, really awesome artist (I can understand because he looks more like a football player than an artist). A few years ago he drew this picture of his sister's family as a thank you to them for letting us live with them over the summer.



A year after Payden was born Tom really got the desire to draw again, so he decided to draw pictures of the girls. (Sorry I realized when I downloaded the pictures that I need to take better pictures of the drawings, but these will have to do until I can take them.)







Well, when summer break started, he really got the desire to draw again. He wanted to draw the girls again (especially Shelby and Payden because he's not very pleased with those drawings), but he decided to draw his parents from their wedding day instead so that we could give it to them when we were up in Utah in June. Here's the final product.



You'd be amazed at how long it takes him to finish. He draws it up in a pretty reasonable time, but then he looks at it over and over and over and over again, adding here and there until he's finally pleased. Of course with my unartistic eye I think it looks great when he initially finishes, but he sees things from a different perspective and it takes him awhile before he is finally pleased with the product. Anyways, I'm so amazed by his talent and glad that the girls will have these special drawings of them done by their dad.

Memorial Day at Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch Part II

After driving through the park, we headed to the petting zoo, which was just a whole bunch of goats. We tried to feed them, but they weren't very interested. A few were extremely interested in eating our clothes though. The girls loved this part, too; it was really hard to get them to leave, but the need for a potty break and the promise of getting a souvenir helped.

Off we headed to the bathroom in the souvenir shop; I took all 3 of the girls with me (Tom won't be solo for long though), and today was an especially exciting day. Everything was fine with Shelby (as usual), but Taylor was having some sort of stomach pains and was screaming and yelling and throwing fits. Payden was here there and everywhere and screaming and yelling because she likes to hear her echo (a trick she learned from . . . Taylor), so I took care of Payden while Shelby stood in the stall with Taylor. At this point a huge line had formed. I handed Payden off to Tom, so I could finish dealing with Taylor. Tom was a bit worried that we were the reason for the huge backup, and with all the commotion from Taylor and Payden it certainly looked like it, but fortunately we weren't the cause. Needless to say, many of our trips to public bathrooms end up being a bit crazy like this.

Anyways we finally finished up, headed to the shop and got souvenirs (Tom can't resist buying the girls something . . . the power daughters have over their dads). It really was a great day, and I'm glad for these family outings and the memories we make together as a family.



There was pee and poo everywhere (we caught this goat adding to it all). It was really gross. The workers would clean it up, but it would get dirty all over again.



Payden just wanted to hug the goats, which of course they didn't accomodate very well. At this point I caught her kissing one too. Uck!!!



This was pretty cute. Payden was petting one goat when another walked by. She wanted to pet the other goat, but she didn't want to stop petting the first one, so here she is trying to straddle between the two.

Memorial Day at Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch Part I

We decided to head out to Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch. We heard it was a fun outing for the family; a bit pricey, but worth doing once. We were fortunate that it was cloudy, so it wasn't scorching hot like it has been (in our family, we're just toooooooooo pale to be outside in the sun and heat for a long time).

The park is really huge, and you SLOWLY drive around stopping to watch and feed the animals. After the fact we learned that you're just supposed to throw the feed on the ground (and not let them eat it from your hand). Whoops. I'm sure glad no one got their fingers bitten off although Tom did get bit on the arm by a zebra, and Shelby got pinched by an emu.

It was cool seeing all of the animals, especially the ones the girls are familiar with. We had TONS of fun, and it ended up being a great day as a family.



Payden sat on Tom's lap for the majority of the drive (because the animals were mostly on that side).



Shelby and Taylor sat behind them, leaning out the window to feed the animals.

Since I didn't have any kids to deal with (an unusual occurrence for me),I had the privilege of handing feed to everyone. Anyways, here's some shots of the animals we saw.





There were LOTS of goats. Many of the animals wouldn't come up to eat, but the goats just flocked to the cars.









These deer also flocked to the cars.





This looked like an albino reindeer.



A wildebeest.



Tom letting Payden drive for a bit. We decided to give her the opportunity because you just don't get to do this any more. I remember driving in my grandpa's lap on the freeway when I was a little girl. Isn't that crazy (and yes it tells you how old I am).



This female ostrich kinda freaked me out, and after Shelby got pinched while feeding one, we decide to not feed them anymore.



The zebras were the craziest and most demanding. I think we all ended up with zebra slobber on us because they kept shoving their heads in the window.



If the females were kind of scary, the male ostriches were 10 times worse. We rolled up the windows as soon as we saw them. I'm glad we did because they are mean. We saw one that must have been REALLY mad at a deer because it was chasing it at full blast. That poor deer was running for it's life. It was cool to see the ostrich running, but I sure was glad it wasn't mad at us.

Saturday with Nana and Papa

My parents decided to come and visit the Saturday before Memorial Day. The girls LOVE when they come; any visit with my parents puts them in super excited mode. We had a pretty calm day relaxing, talking, and playing at home. We then headed off to run an errand and then out to eat at Salsalito's; my mom and dad love eating here, as do we, and since they don't have them in Houston, we usually go out to eat here when they come.

After we finished eating, we headed outside with the girls (because they hadn't had naps and were getting restless) while Papa waited to pay. Tom was also waiting for his friend Joel to come pick him up so that they could head off to the UFC fight that night. Anyways, we were waiting outside in the waiting area, which consists of a few stone benches surrounding a stone fountain. The girls love running around out there. Well Shelby was standing by one of the benches, and Taylor was standing close by. Shelby looked at Taylor and said, "Taylor, I bet you can't get me." Because she was standing so close to Shelby, Taylor decided to lunge at Shelby. Well Shelby moved before Taylor could touch her, but the lunge threw all of her weight forward; instead of getting Shelby, she fell head first into the stone bench. She instantly grabbed her forehead and started screaming (she doesn't really cry . . . just scream). I quickly picked her up to hug her and to figure out where she was hurt. Tom and I finally got her to remove her hand. There was blood everywhere. All over her hand and forehead. Matted into her hair. This is our first head wound, but I definitely know what people mean when they say head wounds bleed a lot . . . they sure do. Fortunately, the wound wasn't deep, but it still took a long time to stop bleeding. Tom ended up having to drive us home (while Joel followed) so that I could hold an ice pack and cloth to her head. As soon as we got home, Tom headed off with Joel because he knew my parents would be able to help out while I got everyone settled.

I had to head up and put Payden to bed immediately because she was SOOOOOO tired (from missing her nap). When I got downstairs, Taylor's wound had finally stopped bleeding, so we bandaged it. In true Taylor fashion, she got mad at me a few minutes later for something and lunged at me. She didn't mean to hit my head, but misjudged and ended up butting heads with me . . . right on her wound. Of course, the bleeding and screaming started back up. I just had to laugh though because that is just sooo Taylor. When we finally got everything to stop and the wound rebandaged, my parents sat down with the girls to read them their before bedtime books.



Shelby reading The Tale of Despereaux to Papa.



Nana reading some Jack Prelutsky poems to Taylor.



Taylor looking pretty pathetic after the whole ordeal.



Here it is. It took 2 days before she'd let me get a picture of it.

Of course along with the wound, she had a good-sized bump and bruising too. She also ended up cutting her cheek a little as well. In the middle of June she was jumping around in the bathtub (not a great idea, but Taylor's still working on thinking ahead at possible consequences of her actions), she fell and bumped her head . . . in the same spot of course. Fortunately the wound was healed well enough that it didn't reopen, but she ended up getting another bump and bruising. Her poor head. I'm curious to see the damage when it's all done healing (as of July 5 . . . it still hasn't done healing).

Anyways, we were glad to get to visit with Nana and Papa, and especially glad to have them around to help out during the whole ordeal. Thanks for the visit!!! We love y'all!!

Payden's Birthday

Payden's birthday seemed to come and go quickly because it was during Tom's last week of school.



For dinner we had . . . Papa Johns' pizza (a staple during this pregnancy).



Her "cookie" looked so good that she had to take a taste.



Of course, with all of us laughing at her, she just continued to lick it. Taylor tried to join in, too. When we went to sing to her, she started shushing us. She would say our name and shush us and absolutely did not want us to sing to her. It was absolutely hilarious. She is one funny kid.





She loved most of her presents . . . especially her fish puzzle, her potato head buddies, and her wagon. She also got a dinosaur (which she loved in the store when we bought it), but she totally freaked out when she opened it. After that she was nervous about every present. It was hilarious. She now likes the dinosaur and calls it her Roar.

Happy 2nd Birthday Payden!!!! We love you!!

Watching TV with Dad

Tom was watching TV, and Payden just had to squeeze in and sit next to him. I thought it was so cute.

Your Help Needed . . .

Okay, so Tom and I are not good at picking out names. It took us FOREVER to pick Shelby's name, and it was absolutely the only name we could both agree on. With Taylor and Payden, a friend picked those out for us and as soon as we heard them that was it. So here we are with another baby to name (and a boy at that) and we cannot find ANYTHING we like. We have 2 criteria . . .

1. It has to flow with the girls' names. Shelby, Taylor, Payden, and _________.

2. It has to go with his middle name. ___________ Thomas Orme.

So we are asking for your help in just thinking of some possibilities. Now, we can't guarantee that we'll pick any of these names, but we would definitely appreciate some help in thinking of names because in all honesty . . . we are STUMPED.

Thanks ahead of time for your help, and we're definitely curious to see what you come up with.

Dirty Jobs

When you're younger and you think about someday being a mother, you think about the joy and the fun it'll be, but there's a whole side of it that you don't really consider. I mean you know you'll change diapers, but there's so many more dirty things that occur that you never even think about. There's all of the body fluids that you come in touch with - boogars, throw-up, spit-up, slobber, urine, and so forth - and there's so many other yucky things that you deal with.

Well today I had a first (Warning: This is about poo, so read at your own risk). Payden was constipated. She normally poos about twice a day, and yesterday she didn't poo at all. This is actually her first time ever being constipated. She came to me almost immediately after waking up and told me that she had poo-poo and she was a little upset about it. I changed her diaper, but there wasn't any in there, only a little streak. After dropping Shelby off at school and returning home, she told me she had poo-poo again, and I could see she was having difficulties. She was crying and upset and desperately wanted me to change her diaper, but again there was no poo in the diaper. I could see it right in her bum hole, but there was nothing I could do. She was soooooo upset, and I tried to get her to get it out, but she just wouldn't. It was past breakfast time, so we sat down and ate. She was so upset that she would only sit on my lap to eat. Afterwards, she started whining some more and I could tell she was trying to get it out, but it was too painful. When I noticed her walking funny, I took a peep in her diaper and saw that it was hanging partially out of her bum, but she wouldn't push any more. It hurt too much. So here's where a first for me occurred . . . I laid her down, undid her diaper, took a wipe, grabbed the poo sticking out of her bum, and pulled the darn thing out of her bum. She was upset (I'm sure it wasn't a pleasant feeling), and I was in mild shock at what I had just done, but you could see the immediate relief once it was out, and it was such a good feeling to know that she wasn't in pain anymore. I'm glad I can handle the dirty side of being a mom, but never in a million years would I have imagined that I would actually pull poo out of my child's bum!!