Is there anything better..

Is there anything better than holding your baby? I am not sure why, but the past several days I just cannot get enough of Aspen. I am fortunate enough to be able to stay home with her, and lately I have been thinking about the fact that one day she will not want me to hold her anymore. I have heard from so many people.."don't hold your baby all the time or she will never learn to be ok without you". I understand the reasoning behind that, but I just have to hold that precious girl and love on her. I have put housework and other things on hold lately because I cherish those times with her so much. A good friend of mine named Lena Powell is 81 years old, and when Aspen was born she gave me quite different advice than a lot of people when she said, "hold her all the time and never become too busy to cuddle with her." At the time I was exhausted from late night feedings and I was like, "yeah yeah...sure when I have a break from feeding her I will gladly enjoy her." Her advice was so good though and stems from her enjoyment of her babies. She seems like she enjoyed being a mom so much. I want to enjoy Aspen as well. She is really getting big. We have a new game where I chase her and she crawls away as fast as she can. When she crawls away she looks behind at me and just giggles because I tell her I'm gonna get her. She is also pulling up on chairs and trying to balance herself. I want her to stay a baby as long as possible. It seems like they change and grow so fast! God is so good to bless us with such a sweet girl.

SO MUCH TO TELL

THERE HAVE BEEN SO MANY THINGS THAT HAVE TAKEN PLACE THE PAST SEVERAL WEEKS AND I AM JUST NOT KEEPING YOU UP TO SPEED. WE HAVE HAD SEVERAL VISITS FROM FRIENDS AND FAMILY AND ASPEN HAS CHANGED SO MUCH AS WELL. WHERE DO I START?

TROPICAL STORMS & HURRICANES - SO, YESTERDAY TROPICAL STORM ERIN HIT AND WE GOT 6 INCHES OF RAIN IN A FEW HOURS, THE ROADS WERE TOTALLY FLOODED, AND GUY AND I HAD NO FOOD. YES WE ARE HURRICANE SAVY. WE DIDN'T KNOW WE NEEDED TO BE STOCKED UP FOR A "LITTLE" TROPICAL STORM. OBVIOUSLY IT WAS WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT. TIGGER AND TANYA AND PAUL AND MEL ARE ON THEIR WAY THIS WEEK AND WE FOUND OUT THAT HURRICANE DEAN IS HITTING ON WEDNESDAY. WE THOUGHT THIS WAS PROBABLY NO BIG DEAL UNTIL OUR FRIENDS TOLD US THEY WERE BOARDING UP THEIR WINDOWS...WHAT??? WE THOUGHT THERE WAS JUST A LITTLE STROM COMING. ANYWAYS, WE ARE NOW OFFICIALLY SOON TO BE HURRICANE SURVIVORS. AHHHHHHHHHHH! THE ADVENTURE BEGINS!!

ASPEN - THE GIRL IS JUST CRAWLING EVERYWHERE. IT IS AMAZING HOW RAPIDLY THINGS CHANGE. I SPEND MOST OF MY DAY MAKING SURE SHE IS NOT EATING ELECTRIC CORDS, STRINGS, TRASH...YES TRASH? SHE PULLED GUY'S TRASH CAN DOWN ON TOP OF HER TODAY IN HIS OFFICE. WE WERE LAUGHING SO HARD BECAUSE SHE WAS COVERED IN PAPERS AND WAS TRYING TO EAT THEM. SHE CRIED THE OTHER NIGHT WHEN I WAS GETTING HER MEDICINE READY TO GIVE HER. SHE STARTED SLOWLY CRAWLING TO ME AS SHE CRIED AND THEN SHE LAY HER HEAD DOWN ON MY SHOE..IT WAS SO SWEET! SHE IS JUST GETTING MORE BEAUTIFUL EVERYDAY. I THINK I MUST HAVE THE SWEETEST AND PRETTIEST BABY EVER.

TALKING - EVERY MORNING BEFORE GUY GOES TO THE CHURCH, HE GETS ASPEN OUT OF BED AND FEEDS HER AND CHANGES HER DIAPER. THIS IS A ROUTINE THAT STARTED WHEN SHE WAS FIRST BORN. I WAS UP AT NIGHT FEEDING AND SO GUY WOULD LET ME SLEEP IN AND HE WOULD GET UP WITH HER. WELL, JUST THE PAST MONTH WE HAVE NOTICED THAT AROUND 7:00 A.M. EVERY MORNING WE HEAR "DA DA" COMING OUT OF HER ROOM. WHEN GUY GOES TO GET HER, SHE ALWAYS JUST KEEPS SAYING "DA DA" VERY SOFTLY. SHE KNOWS THE DIFFERENCE BECAUSE ALL DAY SHE CRAWLS AROUND FOLLOWING ME SAYING "MAMA OR NANNY" OH BOY..I NEED TO TEACH HER THAT NANNY IS NOT WHAT SHE IS SUPPOSED TO CALL ME. I CAN'T HELP BUT LOVE IT THOUGH. ALSO, WHEN SHE BATHES SHE PLAYS WITH HER DUCKY AND WHEN HER DADDY SAYS DUCK, SHE REPEATS "DU" IT IS VERY CUTE!

VISITORS - WE HAVE HAD SO MANY VISITORS THE PAST TWO AND A HALF MONTHS THAT WE HAVE BEEN HERE. IN JUNE BEAU AND KRISSI CAME FOR A NIGHT JUST TO SAY HI, SINCE BEAU CAN FLY FREE WITH SOUTHWEST AIRLINES. IN JULY, CHRIS, JESS, ALISON, AND CHRISTIAN CAME FOR A WEEK TO JUST RELAX AND HAVE A LITTLE VACATION. WE HAVE SOME PICS WE NEED TO POST ABOUT THAT WEEK. WE SPENT THE WEEK GOING TO KEMAH, THE BEACH, THE MALL, AND EVERYWHERE ELSE YOU CAN IMAGINE. FINALLY, JUST LAST WEEK MY COUSINS, ERIN, JAMES, KATE, AND CALEB HENDERSON, AND HOLLY BAKER CAME FOR 3 DAYS TO STAY WITH US BEFORE HEADING BACK TO MEXICO CITY. WE HAD NOT SPENT GOOD TIME WITH THEM IN SO LONG AND IT WAS REALLY NICE. WE WENT TO AN ASTROS GAME SO JAMES COULD SEE HIS TEAM, WE WENT TO KEMAH AND FED STINGRAYS, AND WE ALSO JUST LAYED AROUND AND ENJOYED BEING TOGETHER. TODAY TIGGER AND TANYA VASS ARE ON THEIR WAY, AND THEN MONDAY PAUL AND MELANIE PARTLOW ARE STAYING FOR A FEW DAYS. GOD IS SO GOOD TO BLESS US WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILY. I THINK THIS IS HIS WAY OF GETTING US OVER THIS ROUGH TIME OF MOVING. I WILL POST PICS OF ALL OF THESE VISITS WHEN I GET PICTURES. WE STILL ARE CAMERA LESS BUT ARE DEFINETELY LOOKING FOR A CAMERA. ERIN IS SENDING ME PICS OF OUR TIME WITH THEM AND SO HOPEFULLY YOU WILL SEE ALL OF OUR ADVENTURES!

AIM IS BEGINNING

Well, AIM is officially beginning tomorrow. Have I told you how much I love the AIM Program? I'm sure I have. I am so sad that we will not be in Lubbock tomorrow. This will be the first time in 8 years that we are not there to greet the new students. God changes so many lives through AIM and I was so blessed to be a part of it for so long. WOW - I look back on my life and can see how God used my time in AIM to challenge me and stretch me in ways that were sometimes painful to bring me to a better understanding of him. I will patiently wait to see what amazing events transpire in the lives of these new students that will enter the doors of Sunset Church of Christ tomorrow. What marriages will be a success because of those first steps taken on Saturday? What souls will be saved because a young man or woman had the guts to walk through those doors. God is at work in miraculous ways. If you have never done this, trace your life history through the eyes of God. See the places he led you to and the people he led you to so that you would fall more in love with Him. To my AIM staff, I love you and miss you. To the new aimers, hold on because the ride has begun. - Nan

This weekend we took our high school teens on a retreat to Brenham, TX, home of Blue Bell ice Cream(I know right?). It was the best thing ever. While there our youth intern Kelsey bought Aspen this cute ice cream shirt and hat. It was a really great weekend to just get to know some of the kids we didn't know well, and also to tell our youth interns how much we appreciated them before they go off to AIM and college.

While we were in Brenham some of the girls and I went shopping and had a lot of fun. We actually went Antique shopping because that is all there is to do there and although none of us were in the market for antigues, we had a lot of fun trying things on. In fact, Aspen was with the girls most of the day. She is pretty much their baby and while I was not looking they dressed her up in a tiara and sunglasses as you can see below. She loved it. I think I might have a little "Ham". Aspen is the funniest kid. She laughs constantly and will go to absolutely anyone who reaches for her. When we dress her up I think she acts a little sassy like she wants to put on a show or something.

Here are a few stats about our little Lady that you may not know:

Age - 8 months
Weight - 17.9 pounds
Teeth -NONE!!
Words - Mama, Dada, Nanny(I know...:-)), Duck, Mimi(just yesterday)
Crawling - YES!!!!! she took her first little crawls? crawl? today. She was going after her diaper bag and succeeded in pulling everything out.

FINALLY SOME REAL FOOD!














I'm like my momma. I get cranky without my ice cream.














Yes - I am lookin good!


















She is deep in thought in this picture. We didn't put those sunglasses in her mouth, she just naturally put them there.











This is my Kelsey who is my favorite "GIRL" intern ever! We love you too STEVE!!