The Zoo

Price of an adult admission to the zoo on Half Price Wednesday: $6.00
Price of admission for a 9 month old to the zoo: Free (thank goodness!)
Price of parking: $5.00
Riding around in your stroller in the sunshine, people watching, and talking non stop: Priceless (to Kate)


This picture is for you Alie! See, the leaves really do change in Texas!

Kate got a kick out of the snake/lizard house because the animals were right next to the glass and she could see them up close. Although I'm not really sure that it wasn't her reflection in the glass she was reacting to!




Here's our green girl with a penguin racing past her. Did she look? No! She was more interested in the kid next to her!

Getting a snack in




We love our weeks off with Daddy










Here was our best find of the day. A spotting of the rare 9 month old species of a Kate. Simply beautiful!

Carson, Your Dad and I were second kids to!

Ah the second child. Don't they always get the raw end of the deal? Ten photo books filled with the first child's photos and just the obligatory birthday and Christmas photos of the second child. I realized that I am not tracking Carson's development on this blog like I was with Kate. Pictures every week showing my belly bump progress, how I was feeling, my thoughts. Sorry sweet boy! The truth is my pregnancy with Carson has been very easy so far and he has not required that much attention as it were. He just seems to keep growing and taking everything in stride. Typical second child.But here is a post dedicated to my wonderful second child. On Monday we went to the Dr. and heard that galloping horse sound otherwise known as his heartbeat. It was and always will be one of the best sounds in the world to me. So strong and loud! Every now and then it would be punctuated by a deep thump (a kick). I asked my Dr. what my chances were that Carson would be early like Kate was. He said my chances were pretty good since she was so early. He said, "Let's put it this way. I don't think you will make it to your due date (February 3rd). I think this will be a January baby." Hallelujah!I think my Dr. has some intuition since he is already wanting to see me every 2 weeks and I am just 30 weeks. With Kate he started seeing me every 2 weeks at 36 weeks. In 4 weeks we will have our 3rd and final sonogram. Hopefully he will be in the right position and ready to go. I have learned that resting my body does not necessarily mean closing my eyes and going to sleep. If I can just lay down for a little bit I feel better.I have had very severe allergies with this pregnancy. It is hard for me to get a full nights rest in because I am so congested. I experienced this a little bit with Kate but this is on a whole new level. Other than that I feel very blessed to have a good easy going pregnancy so far. His room is almost finished save for hanging a couple of items, finding a glider/rocker, and putting Maw's wonderful quilt over the chair.Side note- Jared's grandmother AKA Maw makes these amazing quilts for each and every grandchild in her family. We had a little baby boom in the Gowen's family in the last year so she has had to make FOUR quilts including Kate's and Carson's. Jared's cousin James and his wife, Shavonne are half way through to having their second boy which will make the fifth quilt.These quilts are very special. You can see Kate's in every picture of her pink chair. It is beautiful and I can't wait to see Carson's. I know it will be just as wonderful. Thank you so much Maw for all of the hard work that you put into these quilts. They are very special to us. Another side note: I think that the "I'm the big sister shirts and I am the little brother" shirts are so awesome. I went to look for one for Kate and it seems that people don't have kids as close in age as ours will be.The smallest I could find was one for a 2 year old. So when you see those wonderful pictures of Carson's birthday and Kate looks like she is swimming in her "I'm a Big Sis" shirt you'll know why! Ok, so you see the ticker at the top? Now we have at the MOST 69 days to go until we meet this boy Carson. Come on sweet boy, we are so ready for you!

Merry Christmas!

So I withheld these pictures from the original botanical gardens post because I thought I would use them in some clever way for a picture Christmas card. Then I saw how much picture Christmas cards are.Then I thought about all of the postage to send them. Then I remembered that we are a one income family now. Then I remembered this blog is FREE! So Merry Christmas and Happy 2009! One of these pictures would have been on that Christmas card. Maybe next year!

Bless Your Heart!

As I get closer to the end of this pregnancy I have crossed the line from looking fat to looking pregnant.I know that you know what I mean. Looking so pregnant that people feel comfortable to step out on a limb and ask me how far along I am, have we found out if it's a boy or girl, what is his name? etc. This question and answer period gets really interesting if I have Kate with me. For the most part people are shocked when they find out how close Kate and Carson will be in age. But they usually recover with a nice comment like, "Oh my husband's cousin's kids are that close in age and it is so sweet because they are so close." On the other hand some people do not recover well. Some people say, "Oh so it was an accident." or "That was an oops!" I politely inform them that my baby boy is most definitely not an accident or an oops. I know they mean well but I have to take up for my boy. Now seriously, did Jared and I have a conversation saying, "You know what? Wouldn't it be great if we had 2 kids under a year apart?" No. But it did happen and we are so glad. Some people don't even say anything. They just have this look of horror cross over their face which makes me think that I committed a crime. I know they are secretly thinking to themselves. Whew! Glad that's not me! Today, in the Albertson's parking lot I got the dreaded pity comment as a lady offered me a shopping cart, "Bless your heart!" There was also the lady in the oil change place who saw me trying to fix Kate a bottle while she was valiantly trying to take it from my hands asking me,"Hon, do you need any help?" I know that I probably look pretty helpless right now balancing Kate on my hip and trying to maneuver my very pregnant self around. But seriously, should I be a pity case? I thought, "Wow just wait until I put the infant seat with Carson in the shopping cart with Kate riding in the front seat. Oh the "bless your hearts" I will get. By the way, I cheerily told the lady at the oil change place, "No thanks!" to her offer of help as I dumped a 1/4 of Kate's formula on my leg. Nice, real nice! I guess the looks and comments of pity bother me because I want to come off to the outside world as Supermom. When people ask if I need help or give me a "bless your heart" I know that my cover is blown.It's then that I know that I don't look like I have it all togther. What a revelation, I know. All of the veteran Moms are out there are saying,"Duh!" So much for real life. That's my rant for the day. By the way, it wouldn't hurt to leave me a comment telling me your less than supermom moments. It just might make me feel better.:) Bless your heart!

Living in the moment

On Tuesday I will be 30 weeks pregnant. That is just 10 weeks away from meeting our son Carson. If he follows in his sister's path it is just 8 weeks! Our son! It still seems so surreal to me. Sometimes I have to really stop and think about the fact that I am pregnant with our second child and he is coming very soon! Last night I could not go to sleep. It was one of those situations where you are very tired but sleep will not come. I would lay on my left side and Carson would kick indignantly. I would lay on my right side and he would kick again. And my back? That seems to start up a kicking storm! As I waited for him to get comfortable I thought about how much more I have felt this pregnancy than I had with Kate. I have really felt my physical limits.I feel very big. And very slow moving. Needless to say, I am terrible about living in the moment. I woke up this morning planning my day out. What would I make for dinner tonight? Will it be too cold to take Kate to the park? I wonder if she'll take an afternoon nap? That verse about not worrying about tomorrow should be permanently implanted in my ear! I complained to a friend this week, I just want Carson to get here! I definitely want to meet him but I am also in such a hurry to see what our lives will look like with 2 little ones. I already have this poor boy on a schedule in my head and he is not even here yet! God must laugh at me. He is teaching me through Kate to slow down! Live in the moment. Yesterday we went to the park. I spread out a blanket with some of her books and toys. I envisioned this wonderful time of Mother daughter reading. Her nestled in my lap while I read the books to her. What a picture that would make. Do you know what my sweet girl wanted to do? Play with my cell phone! She was content to sit there for over an hour and play with a cell phone. That's when I realized, she wasn't just playing she was doing something that I can only dream of doing. The weather was perfect. The sun was shining with not a cloud in the sky and the breeze was nice and cool. She was enjoying the moment. Just that one moment where she could sit on a blanket with her Mommy push some buttons on a cell phone and feel the cool breeze on her face. Babies are wonderful about living in the moment aren't they? They have no plans to make. No future to carve out. No expectations to fill. They are just there! Here I am! What can life give me now? Carson taught me that to last night. He also was living in the moment and trying to show me the same. My complaining mind surrendered to him. I said to him kick away little boy! Kick for all you're worth! It's 1 AM and you want to show your Mommy that you're in there and you're doing great? Go for it! Give me your best! It was just a couple of minutes later when I drifted off to sleep.

Adoption Prayer Request

Over the past few weeks I have been checking out a blog through Angie Smith's Bring the Rain blog. It is called Our Journey of Love. You can find it on the blog list to the right. This couple is about to adopt their second child , a newborn baby girl that was born on Friday. Just reading a few entries from this mom gives you a full on glimpse on how excited she is to become a mom to this precious girl. She needs your prayers right now as she has just found out just days from finalization that the birth Mom is having second thoughts. I can't imagine the emotion and feelings that she and her family are having. Please pray that God will intervene in this situation. Thank you.

You Say Goodbye....Kate Waves Hello!

My Mom (AKA Mimi) stayed with Kate for one morning and in that morning she taught her how to wave. She called it "Mimi's waving class." Now every chance she gets Kate uses her wave. In Target, at Walmart, around the house, going to bed, eating. It's the all purpose wave. By the way, did anyone get the Beatles reference in the blog title? Just checking!

An Afternoon in the Gardens

Here's a riddle for you:
What do you get when you take one adorable little girl + one wonderful morning nap + The Fort Worth Botanical Gardens + ambitious picture taking parents?

See below for the answer.

Nine Months!!

Happy nine months to the sweetest girl in the world! How can this little girl be 3 months from turning 1 year? It's crazy! A lot has changed for our family. My recent job loss has given me the opportunity to be a full time stay at home Mom. I thank God for this opportunity to be with my girl so much. I am not taking it for granted. I get to see her wake up every single day. What a wonderful blessing! Although it is definitely a different change of pace for me, I really believe that God has given me this opportunity to teach me something. I really think I am learning it through Kate. I'll keep you posted as I discover more.


We took Kate for her nine month check up on Monday. She weighed in at 18 lbs 11 oz and was 27 1/2 inches. Her Daddy's guess was 23 lbs! And I confess I thought she was over 20 lbs for sure. Just goes to show, that you can't count on an accurate estimate from the 2 people that carry her the most. Especially when those 2 people live in a 2 story house and one of those 2 people is 7 months pregnant!

Kate continues to hold off on crawling which is perfectly fine with us. She will move to all fours and even rock a little but then roll over on her side and look up and smile as if to say, "Fooled ya didn't I? Thought you were going to see me crawl! Don't you know I am saving my breathrough in mobility for the first week that Carson is born and you are alone with both of us?" Jared and I have been guilty of trying to "teach" her to crawl and moving her legs to "show" her how to crawl. We finally had to ask ourselves, "Why are we rushing this?" So we are very content to let Miss Kate go at her own pace. She can stand up on anything supported. She has this super cool table that lights up and plays songs that she loves to stand on. I will set her on one side and will come back and she will be on another side so I know she is "cruising." One side note to this table: It plays the same 3 songs over and over again. One is a mexican ditty sung to the tune of La Cuca Racha (sp?). I find myself singing or humming it through out the day. Jared said he was on the rig last week and was humming it in his head. It is really catchy...too catchy! I am not kidding. Lock up a hardened criminal with this toy, playing that song over and over and in an hour he will tell you anything you want to know. But Kate loves it! She will even do this little dance to it where she moves her head side to side (a la Saturday night live dudes) and kick her little leg out (a la Elaine from Seinfeld). It is really cute and makes us laugh everytime. She can wave hi and bye although I am not sure if she is just mimicking us or if she knows what it actually means.

When I feed her baby food I make the sign for "more." As in, "Kate do you want more?" And although she doesn't make the sign she will clap her hands. Which to me is close enough! Also when she has had enough she will shake her head. Although I am still working on deciding if that is a consistent sign or not.

One definite mark she has hit is wariness of strangers. Last week I found this out when I took her to the nursery before church. Just the week before, I gave her to the teacher and she looked at me as if to say, "See ya later Mom, I'm off to play." This week? Tears! Double edged sword here. So sweet because she definitely knows I am her Mommy and has a real attachment to me, but so sad that she is crying.A hard milestone.

Can't wait to see what the next month brings. I thank God so much for this little girl and that He chose ME to be her Mommy!

Fun at Target

I really wanted the next post to be Kate's nine month post but I am being slow in getting that done so I thought I would share some pics of Kate getting into the Holiday/Winter (what does that look like in Texas??) spirit. My Mom AKA Mimi has been here for the past several days and we have really enjoyed being with her. Today she watched Kate for us while Jared and I went to see a movie and got to spend some time together.Last night we went to Target and Kate tried on various hats/headgear. On a side note: We went into Baby Gap today. Is it really necessary in Texas to display snow suits for kids? Do they actually think that people will buy those???

My hands down favorite. It is now the background on my cell phone.

I thought these would bother her but she didn't mind wearing them at all. We got some odd looks from people though. I guess closer to Christmas this would be more acceptable.

This hat was like a big bunny sitting on her head. I can't believe she didn't mind this one.

Kate in Black and White

I have always loved unposed pictures. Pictures snapped when people aren't looking or aren't performing for the camera. True expression capture true feelings. With a baby Kate's age unless I am acting goofy and pulling a really weird face that I would be embarassed to show in public I get the true Kate. Here are some pictures that I took of her today that show the true expressions. Not the "smile for Mommy! Kate look over here! woo hoo Kate!" expressions. I hope you enjoy these as much as I do. Here's my girl in all of her "realness."