Messy Treat

I was putting food away in the pantry and didn't notice until it was too late that Cole was playing with the chocolate milk mix and had dumped about half of it out onto the floor.

I shut the door, where a big part of the mess was inside of the pantry, and went to grab the broom. By the time I got back he was already covered in chocolate. He was grabbing and shoving as much as he could into his mouth. Who doesn't love chocolate!?

Caught "brown" handed

"Uh oh, I've been caught!"
I love the look on his face

Cole Loves To...

...Help or even watch his papa work



...Brush his teeth



...Walk around with flip flops on his arms




...And of course climb

15 Month Check Up...

...a little late, due to the hurricane, because he is closer to 16 month's now.

My baby is growing up too fast! Where has the time gone!? He is 31 and 1/4 in. tall and weighs 20 lbs. 8 oz. He's in the 49% for his height and only in the 2% for his weight. He's a tall skinny kid. At least it's not the other way around and he was a short fat kid.

He eats tons but just has so much energy he can't keep the weight on! He gets into everything and absolutely loves to climb. You should see the front of his poor legs nothing but bruises. He's all boy! It's so hard keeping him on solid ground these days.

While at the doctor office Cole was full of energy. As we were waiting for the nurse to come in and give him his shots he saw I was reading some papers and decided he was going to knock them out of my hands. Unaware of his plan I didn't have a good, tight grip on these papers so when he came at them, both hands, at full force he went threw the papers right smack to the floor. It was so sad! I picked him up and he had blood streaming from his mouth. From what I could see he had cut open his lip a little bit. I hat when that happens.

I got him all cleaned up just in time for shots and then the second round of tears began. Oh the heart break we go through as mothers.

Let Sleeping Babies Lye.

I was cutting vegetables trying to get dinner ready the other night and Cole was extremely tired. For a while he stood by me and threw a huge fit while I tried my hardest just to ignore him. Finally he gave in and laid down and fell asleep right there.

When Tom got home from work he took this picture.
It cracks me up!

Another move by the Booths

We were supposed to move into our rental home Saturday the 13th but dang hurricane ruined those plans. I am happy to say though, this last Saturday, the 20th, we finally were able to move in. So wonderful! No more going up and down two flights of stairs every time we want to go anywhere. No more worrying about if we are being to loud for our neighbor bellow us. No more worries if someone is going to swing open their car door and ding my vehicle. And we now have so much more room, a back yard, a garage and privacy.

Now comes the fun part of unpacking. No really, I do enjoy unpacking. I love putting everything in it's new place and getting all organized. I really can't wait to start decorating! That is my absolute favorite.

I have to mention though, even with all this joy and bliss our first night in the house we found one cockroach and one lizard. There has been one more lizard since then. But I guess that is the sacrifice we make being on ground level with no stairs.

34 Week Check Up

Due to the hurricane I had to reschedule my Dr. appt. that I had scheduled for the day we were evacuated to the following Thursday the 18th. What an incontinent time for a hurricane.

So along with my doctor visit I also had an ultra sound. I thought it was supposed to be a 3-D but apparently the tech. doing the ultrasound didn't know how to do the 3-D. Quite a disappointment. We did how ever get a cute 2-D picture of Avery's nose and mouth that I will post once our scanner is up and running.

With only a little over 4 weeks to go things are still looking great. By the ultrasound she is already measuring 6 lbs. 3 oz. Holy cow she's going to be a big baby! She already weighs more than Cole did when he was born. That's gonna hurt!!

Here's Ike!

September 11th being remembered for the day of devastation seven years ago also brought another scare for those of us in the Houston, Galveston area. We had hurricane Ike headed straight for us and had a mandatory evacuation that day. As before, with Gustav, Tom booked a hotel room in Austin in advance Monday night not knowing where it was going to hit at the time just to be safe. Glad we were prepared because after they announced evacuation it was impossible to find a vacant hotel room any where.

Tom went to work that morning only to return a half hour latter. We finished packing and moved furniture away from the windows and left our apartment at 9:30 am. We didn't want to get stuck on the freeway for hours. We made it to Austin in good time even with little detours along the way. Watching the news when we got to our room we saw how bad the freeways had gotten. It was like a parking lot. What should have been an hour trip took up to three hours or more. So glad we left early.

After we got settled into our hotel room we decided to go find some dinner. As we were leaving, for some reason, I decided to check to see if our door locked, which I never do, but luckily I did because it didn't lock. Tom went and got help and they ended up having to replace the lock but then they couldn't get the key to work so we had to use the manager key. They offered to let us trade rooms but that would have been more of a hassle than it was worth so instead they discounted our room. In the end it all worked out well.

"Over the next two days, Ike maintained a steady course towards Galveston and Houston. It increased only slightly in intensity to 110 mph - the high end of Category 2 - but exhibited an unusually large wind field. This caused a projected storm surge of a Category 4 height though the wind speeds were that of a Category 2. As it approached the Texas coast, the inner structure and eye wall became more organized."

"Ike made U.S. landfall at Galveston, Texas, on September 13th at 2:10 am as a Category 2 hurricane with winds of 110 mph."

We decided, after finding out from friends that returned home Sunday that our power was back on, to return home Monday. Before going back we did some grocery shopping and filled our gas tank knowing there probably wouldn't be anything available once we were home.

On our way back, the freeway would be going great until we got close to a town and then it would just crawl because so many people were trying to exit to get gas that it backed up traffic. When we got back to Houston gas stations were either out of gas completely or the line to get gas was out into the streets and around the corners in some cases. That's why we filled up before we left Austin hearing that that was what was happening.

As we entered into the Houston area we started to see some of the damage of Ike. Roof shingles were blown off, big billboards were destroyed, windows were broken, trees were blown all over the place, traffic lights were bent or just hanging and not working and there was debris everywhere. Here are some pictures we took of the destruction.

This is looking at the window of our apartment outside and in



Here is Tom and Cole standing next to what used to be a tree by our apartment
The fence at our rental house blew over as well.



Where did the lights go? Space Center is supposed to be running the other direction

Hanging by a wire

Ship wrecked

The Hilton where all the emergency crew and reporters stayed during the hurricane and another sad tree

We were very blessed to have power when we got home. In fact just in our apartment complex half of the buildings had power and the other half didn't. We felt so bad because the lady across from us had no power and was looking around with a flash light while we were cooking dinner with lights on and our A/C running. Like I said a blessing. There are still tons of places, residential and commercial, that still have no power and are not expected to have power for quite some time still. And what little damage we have with the window and fence is also a blessing.

Sometimes it's hard to remember that we just had a natural disaster because our lives have gone back to normal but it all comes rushing back as you drive down the streets. For many people life won't be back to normal for a while.

Blue Bell Goodness

On our way to Austin we stopped at the Blue Bell Creamery in Brenham TX. We took the tour and got free ice cream at the end. Yum!

Cole in his stylish Blue Bell hat.

Cole and big prego me

Typical Tourists

While in Austin we went to the State Capital Building and took the grand tour. We also went to the visitor center to learn more about the great state of Texas.


The beautiful State Capital




Our rootin' tootin' cowboy.

Cole was really enjoying himself.

Dirty, Dirty Feet

Have you ever thought about how dirty the floors are in hotel rooms? I never did. It was more the worry over clean sheets, pillows and drinking glasses.

Well, here are some pictures that will really gross you out. And these pictures don't do it justice just how dirty our feet really were. Oh, and this is only after one day.

It's official...

..we are now true Texans. Don't you think it's about time?

After being here for four and a half months we decided to get our drivers license. Yesterday, three weeks later, we received them in the mail. We can now start saying y'all! Oh happy day!

Up! Up! and Away!

I had Tom change some light bulbs in the living room to do that he had to get out the ladder. We both had left the room for a minuet and this is how Tom found him. It's not just furniture any more. Luckily he didn't get too high before Tom caught him.

Hurricane Gustav

Last week there were warnings about hurricane Gustav headed our way. Not quite sure if it would hit us or not, we decided to play it safe and so decided to go to Austin Saturday morning. We luckily had reserved a hotel room Thursday night because hotels were booking fast. We also figured even if it didn't hit, it was a long weekend any way and could just have a good vacation from it.

Getting ready to leave.

~~~

In Austin we ate, watched movies, went to 6th street, got a glimpse of the State Capital Building, slept in, and enjoyed one another.

Cole Checking the hotel room out.

~A/C working. Check~

~Cupboard space. Check~

On 6th street we went to a little gift shop that had a tiny "museum of weird" in the back of the shop. We paid $6 to venture back. We took some pictures of the weird, creepy things we saw.

**WARNING- THESE PICTURES ARE NOT FOR THOSE WITH A WEAK STOMACH**

*Mummies*

The one on the left was believed to be Egyptian royalty. Why it was in a little shop in Austin beats me.

*Fejee Mermaid*

*Shrunken heads*

*Cow with two faces and three eyes*

*Chicken with two heads* *Lamb with two bodies one
head*

*Cyclops piglet* *Piglet with two faces*

Yeah, pretty gross. It was like a scene from a horror movie. I kept expecting all these creatures to come alive and attack. Freaky!

~~~

When we got back home Monday night we heard from the friends who stayed in Houston that there wasn't even a drop of rain. So maybe we jumped the gun but you never know and I'm a chicken when it comes to those things. But what a nice get away!