Our Morning with the Duggars

Here are C and I with our new friends, the Duggars. Michelle and I were talking behind smiley teeth. We only had a minute with them, but they are so "real." The Duggar kids in this picture are Jinger, Joseph, Jason, Jeremiah and baby #19 :O). Michelle is 16 1/2 weeks along with this baby. The other kids went to the bus and were resting and putting the little ones to bed.

The Duggars were the speakers at Chapel today at the Seminary where hubby went for his Master's Degree. Jim Bob Duggar's uncle John was once the president of this Seminary. Which led hubby and I to realize that John Duggar was also once the Pastor of our own church (where hubby has been on staff 15 years this month). I never would have imagined it was the same Duggar family.

We sat on the very back row in case C was too noisy (and he was, hubby spent most of the time with him in the foyar) so my zoomed pictures are not too sharp. Michelle said that the older girls had violin lessons and have taught the younger kids how to play. You could tell Jana (the girl on the far right top row) was the leader.



All the kids were there except Josh (he and his wife are expecting their baby on Oct. 18) and John David who was at the home school camp in a volleyball tournament.

Jim Bob and Michelle shared their family story by taking turns talking. A lot of it was familiar from watching the show, but much was new to me. They shared from a much more Christian based approach today than what we usually are allowed to hear.

I've got to go pick D up from school, but when I get back later I'll upload some video.

Edited this evening to add:

I just took several small snippets of video. Like a dork, I didn't check my memory card before we left (I did charge the battery though!) and I didn't have much memory left.

In the video snippet below, Michelle is talking about how she teaches the children scripture from the Bible. You can see Johanna scoping out how to climb up that pulpit. A few minutes later she started scaling it - I missed that on video :O)

Here the kids are reciting the whole verse of Exodus 20 (the chapter with the 10 commandments)



Here is just a tiny bit of them playing Onward Christian Soldiers on their violins.



Ok, here are just some things that I observed. Michelle is short - on tv she looks taller, but she's really about my height (I'm 5'4") or maybe an inch shorter. I had on heels and she had on flats today. Jim Bob is really quite thin and tall - much thinner than he looks on tv. They told us that there are not a ton of people in their house at all times filming them. There are generally only 3 men and they've been with them for the entire time, so they're like family by this point. Michelle's eyes are super blue, they almost glow. Jinger really looked different in real life than she does on tv. I almost didn't recognize her. Jennifer is still really a baby (she's the second youngest) and Jordyn (the youngest) looked bigger/older in real life, but that is probably because babies change so quickly and the shows are probably at least a couple months behind.

I'll probably think of more little things like this later, but that's all I can think of right now. I've got to get to bed :O)

Here is a link to the news interview they did right after the program. We were standing very near them, we could hear the entire interview - she left a lot out.

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Gustav is just a sprinkle

Well, I guess we dodged the Gustav bullet. Instead of heading right for our county and stalling out like they had predicted, he went more due north instead of northwest. So he stalled out over Shreveport and rained a bit on them. We've just had a steady drizzle all night and today.

We're thankful to not have gotten the flood that was predicted! We had a few branches on the ground this morning, but that's the worst of it.

Last night before we went to sleep, we carried D into our room and made a "pallet" for her in our floor. She didn't realize we'd moved her and when she woke up she wondered what on earth happened in the night! With her room on the complete other side of the house and some big trees over there, we were afraid if the storm got bad in the night a tree might fall in and squish her. Of course now she wants to sleep in the "pallet" again tonight, which is fine with me. I guess C doesn't bother her with his crying at night. She says her ears go off at night while she sleeps.

Gearing up for Gustav

Wow, what an eventful few days it has been!

We are in the upper portion of where the flooding is predicted to begin come Tuesday or Wednesday. There have been reports of anywhere between 4-12 inches of rain anticipated. It is predicted to rain every day of this next week until Saturday. Hubby is right now mowing real quick because it will be a long time before he gets another chance and the grass will be out of control.

During hurricanes Katrina and Rita, our little city was a haven for evacuees and our Church is gearing up to minister again to the evacuees. Our denomination's national encampment is 10 minutes from the church, and that is the base of service for our church members. There are already 100+ evacuees at the camp. We will feed them one hot meal per day and sandwiches, etc the rest of the time. There is also the work of cleaning and maintenance. It is a huge job and our church members have shown themselves to be faithful to serve in the past and have already mobilized for this hurricane as well.

The National Guard is using our Activity Center as a place to shower and rest. It is looking to be a very busy, and wet week for us here in East Texas!

Not knowing what to expect, we have gathered our own personal supplies as much as we can. We do anticipate losing power from the winds. With Rita we had up to 75 mph winds. All we can do is hunker down and see what happens.

With having a newborn, I can't be out at the camp this time. But hubby has already been helping to organize things.

Our Senior Pastor's daughter just began Texas A&M at Galveston and they are still reporting that classes will meet on Monday and students are expected to be there! He is right now driving her down there. If things do get bad, they'll bus the students to the main A&M campus in central Texas.

So anyway, we're glued to The Weather Channel and Fox News watching and waiting.

Keep all the people in our region in your prayers!

Hooray for Sleepy Wrap!!!!

It's here, it's here! Our Sleepy Wrap has arrived!!

I tore into it like Christmas morning!

Oh wow, look! A cute little carrying pouch, that is a surprise!

And after just one false "tie", got it a little too loose the first time - wah lah! C is asleep in the SLEEPY WRAP!!

I just picked him up out of the bassinette and slid him right in the pouch and he never woke up!

I'm lovin' my Sleepy Wrap already!!

It's very snuggly and no pressure anywear. Kind of like wearing a too tight t-shirt, the feel of it. If I had on a black T, especially a long sleeve one, it would even look quite nice to go out and about in!

I've got to stop by the baby boutique before picking D up from school and I'm going to wear it in and tell the owner she's GOT to start carrying them! This shop has just recently made an obscene amount of money off our shower, specifically from monogrammed burp cloths. Maybe she'll cut me a deal on another one, maybe in red!

P.S. I'm typing with two hands and C is still sleeping like a baby :O)

Update: I just washed my face, brushed my teeth, put on my contacts and make-up and went to the potty! All while holding C. I love it! Ok, off to pick D up from school, I wish I didn't have to take C out of the pouch and put him in the carseat!

Sandy, I think it would be easy to carry a child up to 25-ish pounds in it. There are 3 different "holds" the way I have C is the newborn/preemie hold. Here is a link to the older child hold.

It's a wrap

Thanks so much for your advice about the slings/wraps. I had leaned heavily toward the Moby, but as I researched a bit (and I do mean, A BIT) more, I felt like the Sleepy Wrap sounded the best. It seems to be alot like the Moby, but with a little sturdier fabric so the baby doesn't sag as much. I haven't found one negative remark about the Sleepy Wrap, but I think it is newer so maybe the bad is just not out there yet. There were rave reviews about the quick delivery and great customer service. I ordered it earlier this afternoon and if the delivery time holds true as the other reviews suggest, I should receive it Tuesday or Wednesday. I ordered the black one, "just in case" Daddy wants to try it too. The price was awesome, just $33.95 and only $5.95 for shipping. That's less than the Hotsling I saw at Target, where they didn't have my size. There were many reviews and pictures of plus-size ladies who said it was great.

I am looking forward to it coming, and I'll give a full review when it arrives!

Baby Sling/Wrap

Opinions needed. I would really like to get some sort of sling or wrap to "wear" C around the house so I can get something done. I've read some things on blogs through the years, but I never paid much attention because I didn't think it would apply to me. Well, now it does and I need advice!



I don't think I'd like the ones with all the bulky fabric, C is so tiny I'd be afraid he'd smother. But the flatter kind don't look they'd fit me, being XL and bigger in the bosom department.



Ok, Ok, I'll add a picture of C too :O)



p.s. I took him for a weigh in on Wednesday and he was up to 6 pounds 7 ounces!!

p.p.s. I don't usually let C sleep on his stomach. We had been playing on the floor and letting him have some tummy time, and he conked out so I grabbed the camera to catch a glimpse of his cuteness!

My Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday. Let's just say that I am 39, again, again.

This picture was taken as Hubby and D (and Grandma behind the camera) were singing "Happy Birthday" to me. When it was time to blow out the candles, I realized I didn't have anything else to wish for!

Just posting to post

I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted.

We had Vacation Bible School last week, so if you have ever worked in VBS before that should be a 'Nuff Said reason! Add to that the fact that my husband is over the department that puts VBS together and has to head everything up, you'll see that VBS consumes our household once a year. Although VBS is great, 12:30 on Friday of the week of VBS is really great too - when it's over!

So, now I have to get finished on the last stragglers of my paperwork and the thing I'm dreading the most is making a new photo book. Two reasons for that - now it has to be notarized and apostilled and the original shows our family 3 years ago. Now hubby and I haven't changed much in those three years, but D was 4 and now she's nearly 8. So, she has changed a ton! Plus add to that a new house and all, we have to have a new book - sigh.

So, that's what I'm going to be working on today.

Have a great Saturday - don't melt!

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D's "disease" and a very interesting web site to check out

Hey y'all.

D has Fifth Disease. So, that is what the mystery rash is. Now that I know what it is, I can thump my head and say, "duh!"

And for the interesting website, this lady had resolved to cook every day of 2008 in her Crock Pot. She is even going to be on Rachel Ray next week, on July 9!!!

This is very interesting to me and hopefully I'll gain some great recipes from her site. These hot Texas summer days are great times for crock pot cooking.

**Edited to change the Rachel Ray date, her segment got bumped up from July 23 to the 9th!