Thank you

God has been reminding me recently in so many small ways that he'll take care of us. With all of the doctor's bills coming, and life just being what it is, sometimes it's easy to forget I don't have to do this all on my own. The most recent reminder happened yesterday. I had been thinking about going to buy Jacey some winter clothes, since it's getting cooler. Luckily I waited. This past weekend Harmony sent me home with two tubs of baby clothes she wasn't going to use anymore. After doing 4 loads of just baby laundry and putting them away, I realized that Jacey can probably wear a different outfit for every day from now until maybe April. And she'll look fabulous too. I'm out of hangers and drawer space. It is very wonderful. Thank you so much Harmony! (And Raylee and Reese too!)

Busy...

We have been pretty busy these past few days, thus the lengthy absence from posting. Last Friday Jacey went to the doctor for a check-up and to get her first shots. Poor thing didn't like them at all (who does?) but survived the ordeal very well. We then headed out to Dallas to visit the Wiggains clan. It was fun to show off our kid and to see all of the cousins and aunts and uncles. Everyone is growing up so fast. And they're all adorable.

I've come to realize that Jacey is a home-body. She inheirited this trait from me. Mitch told me a long time ago that he didn't want our kids to be home-bodies and attached to their own beds, routines, etc. Unfortunately, babies have a tendency to decide for themselves what they like. She was very pleasant on our trip for the most part, but didn't nap well, and was a little out-of-sorts. The wonderful thing about this is that when we come home, she's an angel. She's taken all of her naps, and slept for 7 1/2 hours last night. She's talked, smiled, played, and has just loved life. (I say this now; I'm probably jinxing myself for the rest of the day.)

Not to say we're never traveling again. Monday we head out to Nashville to visit my parents and sister for a week. I'm really excited to see them and all of my friends. My popularity has definitely gone up since Jacey arrived.

My 100

1. I'm 23 years old.
2. I share my birthday, January 19, with my sister, who is 3 years younger than I am.
3. We were actually born in the same hour, so we're 3 years and 30 minutes apart.
4. I also share it with Dolly Parton.
5. I like the idea of posting "my 100," so I'm being a copycat.
6. I grew up in Nashville.
7. Everyone asks me if I know any country music stars. Nope.
8. My dad has met or seen a lot of them though. He actually stopped Alan Jackson in a restaurant to shake his hand. Mom freaked out.
9. I always thought Nashville was a small city. Then I moved to West Texas.
10. I no longer can drive confidently in Nashville.
11. I've allowed myself to believe Canyon/Amarillo is a city.
12. Then I drove 5 minutes outside of town towards Hereford. What kind of name is Hereford, anyway?
13. I attended private schools all my life.
14. I was/am a band dork. Just turn on DCI, and I go crazy.
15. I always wanted to be a stay-at-home mom.
16. I actually like cleaning my house. It makes me feel clean and pretty somehow.
17. I don't like cleaning our shower though. It's all tile...walls, ceiling, and floor. And mold loves to grow. Ugh.
18. I've been married for 3 years.
19. My husband is the only person I've ever kissed.
20. I love being pregnant. It allows you to not worry about being fat.
21. My water broke before any contractions started.
22. I started shaking because I was so surprised. And scared.
23. Jacey came in 5 hours.
24. I'm worried that I won't make it to the hospital in time with my next kids. At least in time for an epidural.
25. I thought I wanted a lot of kids. I still do, but can't imagine such craziness yet.
26. I love chocolate cake.
27. My granny always made chocolate cake for me and my cousin Dustin when the family got together.
28. She also made me green beans. My granny makes the best green beans. I don't believe there is any nutritional value left in them, but boy are they good.
29. My granny's name is Granny. At least that's how the whole world knows her. She even addressed a package to me as Granny Chester.
30. I have 15 cousins on my dad's side of the family.
31. We warn newcomers when we go visit the entire family. They must be prepared, or they'll be very overwhelmed. Just ask Mitch.
32. I love playing music.
33. I desperately miss playing my clarinet.
34. I'm currently teaching piano lessons.
35. I love to cook.
36. I love trying new recipes.
37. I have to have a recipe when I cook, unless I'm making homemade pizza and chocolate chip cookies.
38. My mom and I make the best homemade lasagna.
39. I've always wanted to learn how to decorate cakes.
40. My experiments in that area have not turned out as I would have wished.
41. I've never had a "real" job, with a boss and everything.
42. I really try not to be lazy.
43. I love sleeping though. And naps.
44. I miss sleeping all night long.
45. My two favorite times of day with Jacey are mornings after she's eaten - she kicks and talks to me a lot, and bath/bedtime. There's something calming about a freshly clean, naked baby.
46. I love to read, and always have.
47. My kindergarten teacher told my parents to consider holding me back because I couldn't read anything but "stop" before 1st grade. They didn't, and I was reading at a 4th grade level a few months in.
48. It takes me about 10 minutes in the library to fill my arms with books.
49. I've read almost every Nancy Drew book in existence.
50. I love to scrapbook.
51. I hate the philosophy, "Just get it done as fast and easily as you can," when scrapbooking. To me, it's a process that must be enjoyed, no matter how long it takes.
52. My last scrapbook was about 6 inches thick. That was for 2005. It took me about a year to finish.
53. I also crosstitch.
54. I'm working on a snow scene for our guest room. I'll probably finish it by the time we redo that room.
55. My last crosstitching piece took my 8 years.
56. I guess I have a lot patience.
57. I can't watch true emergency shows, like the ones on the Discovery channel, or listen to sad songs, especially those involving little kids. This started about 7 weeks ago.
58. I hate animal movies, and refuse to watch them.
59. My favorite color is purple.
60. Our house will eventually have every color of the rainbow in it. So far, our bedroom is red, the guest room is purple, and the nursery is yellow and green. Eventually the living room will be orange (rust), the kitchen green, and the laundry room might be blue.
61. My favorite food is Italian.
62. I love rice as well. If Mitch is gone, I'll make rice for dinner.
63. I believe tuna casserole is gross.
64. I only make it with chicken.
65. The sound it makes is fun to hear.
66. I played softball for 11 years.
67. I believe my first word was ball.
68. My grandfather taught me eye-hand coordination. We would go into the hall of my house and he would toss me a tennis ball. I had a racquet ball racket and I would hit it back to him.
69. I enjoyed those 11 years, but don't miss playing.
70. I cannot dance.
71. I discovered this when I was in winter guard.
72. I can walk to a beat and catch things at the same time.
73. I was put on equipment (flags/rifle) as soon as possible during our show.
74. I painted myself blue every Friday night one fall.
75. Blue face paint can take forever to get off.
76. Driving home with a blue face can be interesting. I really tried not to get in a wreck or be pulled over. I didn't want to explain it.
77. I've had every length of hair possible.
78. I hate/hated being a dork.
79. I'm amazed I snagged such a cutie for a husband for that reason.
80. I love copying down music. I love the simple drawing process that is so precise.
81. I love school supplies, and can't wait to get to buy them for my kids.
82. One of life's greatest joys is a 120 count Crayola box of crayons that have never been used.
83. They even smell good.
84. I love going to the beach.
85. Boogy boarding and wave jumping are two things I could do for hours.
86. I like skiing.
87. I'm a horrible skier, but enjoy trying.
88. I love to eat.
89. Right now, I can eat a ton of food.
90. Koolaid is the greatest invention.
91. Sweet tea is a must. I didn't comprehend the existence of unsweet tea for a long time.
92. My grandmother was a poet.
93. If she was alive, she'd write you a poem.
94. My mom was adopted from Germany.
95. One day Mitch is going to take me to Europe. And Hawaii.
96. I love roses.
97. I believe every woman should get flowers at least once a year. Preferrable more often.
98. My dog understands English. He chooses to obey.
99. I don't really know how to use makeup, so I don't wear it that often.
100. It's hard to come up with 100 things about myself.

One thing I've learned by living here is that life is unpredictable. We aren't guaranteed that tomorrow is going to work out like we planned. Case in point: Mitch called yesterday and said he was at the hospital with a family from church. The father was a diabetic and hadn't felt good that morning. He stayed home, and that morning he passed away. His wife, who was at home the whole time, came in a found him not breathing. The doctors believe he was having a heart attack, and the symptoms of the diabetes masked it. He left behind his wife and two sons, one of which is a senior in high school. Please pray for them.

In other news, Jacey is going through a growth spurt. She's 6 weeks old now, so I was expecting it. She eats every 1 to 3 hours, and has slept all morning, poor thing. Luckily for us she did make it about 8 hours last night between feedings. It's amazing to actually get sleep!

The evils of garlic

After eating lasagna, pizza, and breadsticks for dinner the past few nights, and waking up to a screaming child, we're hoping that she is opposed to just garlic. The poor thing will just scream with a gurgling stomach after her midnight feeding. I'm saddened by this because of my love of all things Italian, but I value sleep and a happy, comfortable child more.

This weekend was very enjoyable. Friday we went to Sam's for diapers and a tour. I haven't shopped there in so long that I had no idea what wonderful things I could buy in bulk. They even have decent furniture. Who knew? Saturday we invited ourselves over to Newton and Laura's for a movie day. We hadn't seen them in a while, and so we enjoyed a lazy Saturday together.

Here are a few recent pictures for your enjoyment:

We are trying to take a picture each month by the same object to see how much she is growing. This is Cuddles, my childhood teddy bear.

I was so lucky in my timing to get this picture! She is smiling because of gas, not because of mom, unfortunately.

I love her pants! She is finally just big enough for them.

A little less sleep

So I have a typical newborn. After sleeping through the night (well, almost), we were up every 3 hours Sunday night (mainly because mom ate pickles), and 3-4 on Monday. I think Jacey's been going through a growth spurt. At least that's all I can figure. Last night was much better though.

I've realized that all my posts are about Jacey, so I'll try to fill you in on her and the other things in our life (I think there are other things). We are planning a trip to Nashville courtesy of my parents at the end of October. They are dying to see Jacey again, and it'll be fun to show her off. Even though they live 15 hours away, we're hopefully going to do better about seeing each other, for my sake as well as theirs. Work and the craziness of life are poor excuses for not seeing family in my opinion. So I'm thrilled about that.

My inlaws gave us a lot of chicken that was leftover from camp this summer, and I've had fun creating meals. If anyone has any good recipes for chicken, feel free to share!

New Xbox game - Lego Star Wars II = lots of fun. It's a comedy, really.

Pretty girl

This is her first Sunday to go to church. Grandma gave her the pretty dress, and the booties she's wearing I wore when I was her age.

Getting ready for another trip out.

Sleeping beauty.

My drama queen.

It's amazing to look at these pictures and realize how much she's already changed. She's definitely put on some more body fat. and has more cheeks on her. She's also starting to sleep more (hooray!). Thursday night she slept for 6 1/2 hours before I woke up and fed her. She's consistently stretched feedings to 4 hours this week.

One of my new favorite things: giving Jacey a bath and watching her relax. It's one of the most peaceful things I've ever seen.