25 Things

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, thoughts, or goals about yourself. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.


1. I am very emotional and impatient. I sob in movies, get frustrated in traffic, stuff like that.
2. My favorite food is lasagna. So much that I could eat it every night and never get tired of it.
3. I am very independent.
4. I would move to Alaska or Ireland in a heartbeat
5. I adore Christmas more than you can imagine.
6. Giving gifts is important to me. I start thinking about Christmas presents in January and work on them all year.
7. I hate wearing glasses but can't seem to find any contacts that don't kill my eyes
8. I am the devil if I don't get enough sleep
9. I am definitely a hard core republican, granted I may be for legalizing medicinal marijuana and decreasing the drinking age but other than that, I basically walk the republican line.
10. Universal healthcare is ridiculous and anyone who thinks its the way to go needs to join the army and see it in action.
11.I love ranch dressing and Diet Mountain Dew, I mean I could eat it on/with anything
12. My husband is my perfect match. Even after being together three years, I get tingles when I see his name on my phone.
13. I dont care a lot for animals, yes I am sure everything thinks I am cold and heartless but I really dont. I like dogs well enough but I would be fine never having one. Bryon, on the otherhand, adores dogs so I'm sure we'll have a lovely little lab one day.
14. I like reading romance novels and watching lifetime movies. I felt convicted a few years back about reading the trashy ones, so now I stick to Christian ones and they are just as good, if not better!
15. I think I was born in the wrong era. I should have been born back during WWII, my heart is definitely there.
16. I love being a mom. I was really nervous about it, mostly related to the lack of sleep part, but I never knew just how much you can love someone until you have a child.
17. Spit up actually smells good, at least when it's on your baby or your nephews :)
18. I relax by taking baths, If I dont take a bath one day, I feel stressed and anxious
19. My favorite thing to do on a Saturday is to take a nap with Bryon and Molly and just do nothing.
20. I miss my nephews terribly. I also miss my sisters and parents, but not in the way I miss my nephews. Seeing even a picture of them makes me cry, I can't imagine this world without them.
21. Fall is my favorite season, drinking cider, driving through the parkway, watching the leaves change colors and camping is ideal for me.
22. One of the highlights of my day is talking walks. That is when I feel closest to the Lord and really get some quality prayer time in. I think it is being outside, but regardless, something about the fresh air is exhilarating. Only Molly doesn't like sunshine or the cold, so that's always an adventure :)
23. I am extremely thankful for my education. My parents paid my way through both of my degrees, I have no debt and the job I always dreamed of. I don't think they will ever know how much that means to me.
24. I have a deep burden in my heart for the people of Africa. I carry the images that I saw during my trips over there with me daily.
25. Last but most importantly, Christ is my everything. I so desperately wish that everyone could know how amazing being a Christian is. I wish the world didn't make living Godly so hard and skew the truth so easily. Most of all, I look forward to the day when we are all called to heaven to live with the Lord forever.

I am getting big!

4 months old!

On January 26th Molly turne2d 4 months! It is so hard to believe she is 4 months old already. It really seems like yesterday I was wobbling around pregnant with her, missing Bryon while he was deployed, living with my parents and waking up every morning to my sweet nephew Casey yelling, "HA HAAA" up the stairs as my alarm clock. (HaHa is what he calls me). Now my family is together, Molly is growing and we are about to make a huge decision about our future. Bryon has one more class before he is finished with his masters degree in internaitonal relations, i'm all done with school and will be looking for a part time job here shortly. All I can say, is God is good. He has been our provider, sustainer and we give Him all the praise.

So an update on little miss Molly. She is now very verbal and a lot of fun. Gone are the days of staring blankly into space. She knows Bryon and I and smiles and laughs whenever she sees us. She is an extremely happy baby, hardly ever cries and sleeps 7-10 hours a night. She is a good traveler, loves playing with her hands and catching glimpses of her feet. She talks non-stop, sucks her thumb occasionally, and loves her bouncer, activity center and activity mat. She has disliked her bumbo chair up until lately, now she sits in it and looks like a little person! I think she just had a growth spurt last week. She ate constantly and woke up during the night to eat for about 4-5 days. Now she is too big for her 0-3 month clothes and is wearing a 3-6 month size. She's wearing a size 2 diaper now, well she will be when we use up the few size 1's we still have left. Her favorite thing to do though is to snuggle with me and Bryon and look at the paintings we have on the wall. More than anything we show her, she absolutely loves wall hangings. She could stare at them for hours.

We go on Monday for her 4 month well visit and to get 2 shots. We are giving her shots slower than the standard schedule recommends. She is getting the second DTaP and Hib at this visit. I'll post an update after I find out her height and weight. I weighed her here at the house and it said 13ibs and 13oz so we'll see!

So happy 4 month birthday little girl!

Snow!

Today we had snow.. and lots of it! Well, lots comparatively speaking. Bryon's family in Pennsylvania would say we had a very little bit of snow (our 2-4 inches) but to us southerners, that is a ton! So, of course, whenever there is the least bit of bad weather, the entire state shuts down and today was no different. The army even shut down and Bryon had the day off.. We decided Molly needed to go out and experience her first snow, freezing or not and here are our pictures of the experience.

Thumb Sucking

So this is a series of shots where Molly progresses from being asleep to sucking her thumb. I have to admit they are adorable, even though I don't particularly want her sucking her thumb.

Typically though, she only sucks it if she is hungry. So I really think she will grow out of it.

I am also excited to report she has found her hands! Yes, just this past week, she realized that she has hands and now enjoys staring at them. People keep telling me to just wait until she discovers her feet!

Asleep, or so you think...

hmm, I think I want a taste of that yummy thumb. Here it goes...

Man my thumb is so good!


Oh, I'm too sleepy to suck my thumb anymore

NOT!

Stroller rides

Molly and I have been enjoying the outdoors this week. This is little girl all snuggled up in her stroller while we went on an adventure around the neighborhood. Notice the hat, lovingly hand made by her gram. We have lots more than just this one but I love the little bow on the top!

Bryon had duty all week, which basically means he has to leave for work around 5:15am, skips lunch and doesn't get home until around 6pm or so. Fortunately, this isn't an every week thing but it is definitely getting old. This is a four day week for him though, so only one more day of duty left! One good thing about the Army is that they observe every holiday known to man, so despite the crazy and sometimes ridiculous things he is asked to do, we do get more days off than most people.

Oh and please say a prayer for Bryon tomorrow. It is the last time he will EVER have to jump out of a perfectly good plane again, THANK THE LORD! Most people don't know that he is very afraid of heights. Yes, that sounds crazy I know, but he chooses to be airborne because of the extra $450.00 it gets you per jump. The Army doesn't pay a lot by any means so every little bit helps. Plus, I think the bragging rights will be worth it one day when he is able to tell Molly stories about his old Army days jumping out of perfectly good planes. :)

Moo Moo

My little Calf wearing her cow outfit toady. Too cute not to take a picture of :)

Rose Bowl

Despite the outcomes of the Rose Bowl this year, I have to post a few pictures of the occasion.
Bryon and Molly sported Penn State gear and were ready and in position a whole hour before the game started. Molly also had next to her seat her accessories: ie: Penn State mini football and pom pom. Our friends, the McDanelds, came over to watch the game with us on our new TV and we really had a blast. So, despite the sad outcome of the game, the day was wonderful! Not to mention it was the first day of our new year, much to be thankful for!

The couch was too far away from the TV so my sweet husband had the moveable chair right up close. And yes, Molly was just as excited as he was about it. The one night she gets to watch that much tv :)

Decked out for the game

Cheerleader in the making, or football player?

Hello world, I'm back!

This is Molly's chair that sits at the dinner table with Bryon and I. She adores it as you can see. After battling her Bronchiolitis and RSV virus, we are thrilled she is on the mend. Yesterday, was the first day she really wanted to play a lot and her appetite has come back with a vengence. Praise the Lord!

Still have to prop her up to play verses laying flat on the floor but as you can see she is grinning and talking up a storm again. She even is able now to grasp some of the toys dangling from this mat. She doesn't really know she is doing it but sometimes will accidentally grab one of them and hang onto it, even shake it sometimes.

Discovering her activity center. This is one of her favorite toys now. She is really probably too little to play in this but it amuses her and challenges her to hold her head and body upright, so we put her in it.

If any of ya'll have the Baby Einstein toys, you will know what I'm talking about when I say her favorite part of the activity center is the sunshine that rattles. I think it's especially fun because I always sing "You Are My Sunshine" to her with ridiculous faces and voices when I rattle it for her. She gets a kick out of that.

So yeah, her feet don't exactly touch the bottom yet but it doesn't seem to bother her.

Get'er done!

Today marks a very momentous day in the life my vehicle, it surpassed the 100,000 mile mark. My car is the best, most durable SUV ever made. I drive a 2003 Honda CRV which I was given by my parents back when I was in college. I was always made fun of because I got my car BEFORE I graduated and my sisters weren't allowed to get theirs until AFTER they graduated. My parents joked that they knew I would graduate but they weren't so sure about my sisters. By holding out on the car, there was a greater chance they would actually finish :) To further show my nerdiness, they added to that joke just like they worried my sisters may never graduate, that they worried I might stay in school forever.. yes, I am a nerd, but in all fairness, I am married to an even bigger nerd. I was only in college for 7 years but Bryon has been in now for 9.5 years, huggeee nerd :)

All that said, my car clicked over onto 100,000 miles today and we were able to capture the momentous occasion on camera. So, way to go little CRV. May you live many more years.

99,999 miles

100,000 miles!!!

PS. I would also like to add that Bryon continuously fusses at me for forgetting my seat belt and today, I have proof that he doesnt always use his (note the fasten seat belt sign in both pictures). HE was the one driving the car and taking these pictures.