Last loan paid off! And I quit my job...

We made our last payment towards my student loan last week!  I know it's rude to discuss numbers, but- can I just say that $70k of debt GONE after 5 years feels SO AMAZING!  (Casey's loan=$30k.  My loan= $18k.  Car = $22k.)

It's kind of ironic that all of Casey's loan and half of mine were from graduate school-
which each of us abandoned the summer of 2007.
Oh well, it was worth the extra couple of years in College Station, my favorite place on earth!  :)

Pearl the Altima- paid off! :)

So, what are we going to do with nearly $1000 less of bills to pay each month now?  

Nothing, because I quit my job.  :)

Dax's blood work came back last week, and his immune system 

(IgG, and Hib (common chest bacteria) resistance) didn't improve.  

He's been doing AMAZING this summer, and it was just made very clear that his 

improvements are because he's out of a daycare setting, 

not because his immunity is increasing.

So we made the VERY difficult decision that I resign as Chemistry and Anatomy teacher, and Student Council sponsor at Katy High School.  I do love my job (although this year was rough!), 

and we LOVE the kids' school- but this is just what is best for Dax for now.  

Ada will go to a Christian preschool a few days a week, 

for now she's on a waiting list and we three are having a blast at home 

(and around Houston).  :)  

Zoo trip on Friday- blog post coming soon! :)

Spring 2012 School Pictures & Phone Picture Dump

Kind of a lot has been going on lately -(mostly related to the allergist- whom I have officially kicked off of my kids' list of care providers.  Long story, I'll save it for some day when I finally have the answers I am seeking.  Let's just say we have spent a few dollars shy of $1000 on medication this MONTH alone prescribed by her, and it's not the cost that I'm most unhappy about.  She's just an over-reacter, over-prescriber, over-bearing woman- and we're over it!  Appointment with a new allergist next week.  Hopefully she's more tolerant, more patient, and not as anxious to jump on the steroid/antibiotic/antihistamine bandwagon.  Let's treat the cause, not the symptoms, people!)- 

so I will instead just please your eyes with some of the cutest sites you've ever seen! :)

Spring school pictures were taken a few weeks ago-

OMG, I love her so much my heart is going to explode.

I miss him so much during the day!

I seriously cannot get enough of them.  Light of my life!

My kids making me giggle-

Dax has been on antibiotics for, ohhhh.. about 6 months now, so I think he's got a yeast diaper rash.  So we played naked after bath time for a while tonight to let him "air out."  

Bahaha!  They're going to kill me someday for posting this!

 Sweetish Baby fills an order for Ada-

My own sweet baby girl placed an order for a new dress before going to bed tonight.  :)  This is actually her first outfit I've made her.  (The bows are for pigtails, they're not attached to the dress at all!)

"My Family" by Ada Grace

Ada's class was having show and tell last Friday, and were asked to bring a few pictures of their family.  Ada and I  decided to make hers into a story book, and this was the cover that she created- Daddy, Mommy holding Dax, Ada (down low), and Murphy (in orange).  I {ADORE} this!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I made the kids' Valentines for their class parties tomorrow- and I'm so excited about how they came out!  I got most of the ideas off of Pinterest.  

And, can I say, I'm loving Photoshop?  I'm still a little slow-poke at it, but adore it nonetheless. 

Attached to a cute baggie of gummy bears for the 3 year olds.

Attached to a cute baggie of teddy grahams, for the babes.

Attached to gift cards to the-best-place-on-Earth for Ada's teachers.

Also attached to Starbucks gift cards for Dax's teachers.

And this one is for YOU!  Happy Valentine's Day, from Us!  We love you all!

Fall 2011 School Pictures

I just broke the cardinal rule of "professional photography"- I scanned in the kids' school pictures from this past fall without consent.  And you can plainly see why I HAD to do it- I want to have these for my viewing pleasure for many years past what the cheap prints last!!  They are to die for:

Ada- 3

Dax- 6 months {The photographer requested that the kids wear a cute hat or large bow.  I sent this one on purpose, but they told me the photog almost didn't use it out of fear I'd be mad!  I guess some people don't get me...}

Sweet Sister and Adorable Brother

{These were taken at the end of September- I am just now getting around to scanning them in, because I am just now getting around to learning how to scan things in in our new printer!}

Undressing and Undressed

Your eyes do not deceive you- Dax's daily report card does, in fact, say his mood today was "silly and happy.  Dax had a great day today, and enjoyed taking his pants off." 

His teachers said at nap time Dax kept pulling his pants down over his diaper, shimmying them off, and tossing them in his friends Zane's and Sam's cribs next to his.  And cracking himself up in the process!

 Speaking of no pants-

I'm dying over this chubby tush!  I can't decide if "the camera doesn't lie" or "the camera adds 15 lbs"- because he doesn't seem THIS chubby to me in real life!

 Speaking of bathtime-

He kept putting his face in the bubbles tonight and giving himself a Santa beard.  He'd already wiped a lot of it off by the time we got out and got the camera, but you get the idea!  He thought he was pret-ty clever.

Ummmmm. I love you.

And yet another leftover play scenario of Ada's.  Ha!

Halloween- Long Overdue

Halloween was months ago.  In fact, we're even long past Thanksgiving (which I failed to get ONE picture of- we went to Pop and Honey's, and had a nice time!).  But I want to post our Santa picture, and feel the need to cross the Halloween blog post off of my eternal to-do list before advancing into the current holiday season!  :)

We kicked off the weekend with a Halloween Party at the kids' school, Kids-R-Kids!

Then we met up with friends to celebrate and trick-or-treat at the Klemach's.  This is the girls eating their self-decorated cupcakes... and Dax wanting in on the action!

About to take my monster and indian trick-or-treating! (So I can eat their candy once they go to bed!)

To. Die. For.

I love this girl so much.

Hitting the streets with her friends, Olivia and Rory!  Ada got some serious candy-age.

Been a while...

It's been a while since a meaty post.  It's funny how that goes- the more going on, the more you want to blog about, but the less time you have to do so.  Now that I'm taking the time to sit at the computer and write one, I can't remember everything I've been storing away in my frontal lobe.

I'll just blabber about the last 5 days.  Would you ever guess these adorable kids weren't feeling well?

They're totally sick.  Dax's teachers had been telling me for days they thought he was under the weather, but I wasn't seeing it.  He finally woke up about 3am on Thursday morning running a MILD fever, so I decided to go ahead and get him checked out by the doctor.  Lo-and-behold: double ear infection (one of which is severe), and nasty upper respiratory infection.  So nasty, in fact, that he has to have breathing treatments of albuterol.  :(

Dax taking his albuterol. 

 The good thing?  I got to miss 2 days of work and snuggle, snuggle, snuggle him!!!

Dax's began at 3am on Thursday... Ada's began at 4am on Saturday.  Casey and I wake up with her crying at the side of our bed "I just had a dream about creepy shadows... and I throwed up in my beeeeeddddd."  It was so sad, and such a mess. She felt icky all weekend, too. 

Snuggling on the pallette with her "Rat Princess" that Aunt Andi sent her from NYC!

Daddy built her a BOMB fort that she lounged in all day Saturday and Sunday and watched movies. 

Everyone is seemingly on the mend.  Dax has been on antibiotics for 5 days, though, and his ears are still bothering him.  He's also still sounding really rattle-y in the chest- tack on the email that I got from daycare today saying one of his friends in his classroom has RSV (a baby lung virus)- we are going back to the doctor tomorrow for a re-evaluation.  And then we're off for Thanksgiving break, yay!

And, something super random, but made my entire weekend:  Dax discovered the property of "elasticity."  He realized he could "pop" my elastic headband- and he sat there and popped it like a slingshot for a good ten minutes. (Such a boy!) 

He'd pop it.  Look at me.  Wait for my reaction (which was totally ridiculous in between shots with camera phone!).  Smile and giggle.  Then pop it again. And again.  And again.

This was one of the pictures I'd captured in the midst of all the popping!!  I cannot get enough of it!  This boy makes me smile so hard.

Crawling, Pulling Up, and Best Smile Award! :)

I feel like I haven't posted in forever!  Lots going on around here- Dax is *officially* crawling.  After a month of trying to decide if he preferred the army crawl or proper crawl, he concluded that the real crawl is more efficient and much quicker!  I need to get a video of him- it's hilarious.  Seriously the speediest crawler I've ever seen.  (The video camera is maxed out, and I just don't ever have the time to upload them all to clear the memory- which reminds me- I have a ton of adorable videos I need to get around to posting, too!)

The instant he mastered the crawl, he tackled another milestone: Pulling up.  He's obsessed.  He'll pop up on anything vertical.  (In fact, at school on Friday he pulled up on the built-in bookshelf, was reaching for the toys on the top, and lost his balance-- of course he fell in the 2 square feet of unpadded floor in the entire room.  Now he's got a huge goose-egg on the back of his head!  He is ALL boy.  Already getting battle wounds at 6 months old.)

This entertainment is just a tad too tall for a good grip to pull to standing on... for now.  ;)

He LOVES to watch Murphy in the backyard.  And Murphy is sometimes bored enough to come and watch Dax back.



Ada and Dax watching Murphy together- she is the BEST big sister ever.  Dax doesn't know how lucky he is!

Get back here, Dog!

Looks like he's not content to just stand- climbing could come next.  Lord, save me.

I'm so cruel; but for some reason, I think when babies are standing in their crib after napping is the cutest thing ever.  Even if the water works are on. :)

Dax crawls EVERY where.  Sometimes I have to scramble to find him.  This particular instance I busted them BOTH in my purse!  Ada was stealing gum.

He has found nearly every door stopper in the house.  He could swat at them for hours, I think.

And Dax got an award at school!  Best Smile.  DURR!

Dax- 6 months

Dax is 6 months old... a half of a year!  We love him more and more everyday.  His personality is still just as awesome as it was March 16, but it continuously reveals itself more and more. 

• He's still so happy, smiley, and easy-going.  But don't be too wild and crazy with him- his initial reaction is to think you are an alien, his next reaction is fear.  (He has a more "cerebral" sense of humor; as opposed to slap-stick comedy!) 
• Separation anxiety is beginning- don't spontaneously grab him from me, you'll burn a bridge forever!
• This kid has got GRIT and DETERMINATION.  He's already army crawling everywhere- simply because he figured out that if he spots something he wants, the most efficient way to get his hands on it is to take care of it himself. 
• He loves school, and ADORES Miss Terry.  (All of his teachers really, but he has a serious soft spot for her!) 
• He also adores his sister, Ada Grace Dowell.  :)  She intriguing and hilarious to him.
• He's sitting up by himself for a few minutes (minutes!) at a time, and babbling lots- with a few "mamas" in there.  Music to my ears, even though he has no clue what he's saying.  :)
• He loves to push big buttons on toys, especially if it makes a sound happen.
• He has two bottom teethies!
• He has discovered how to make HUGE splashes in the tub- I can hardly get him clean anymore, he's so wiggly and slippery and chubby!
• Still exclusively breastfeeding, but he's eating some solids, too: cereal, peas (his favorite), sweet potatoes, carrots, & squash. 
• Stats from his 6 month check-up:
• 95%ile height (durr)
• 50%ile weight (he was REALLY hungry, so I'm sure he's a little bigger... but that was a big shocker!  My linebacker is slimming down!)
• 95%ile head circumference (gotta fit that big ole brain in there, like Daddy's!).
• He also has some minor exema- Dr. G thinks it will not be so bad his skin "toughens" up a bit, but will probably always struggle with it a little bit.  Mobley skin.  :)

And now, what you've been anxiously awaiting: the Monster Photo Shoot.  Let's take a look at the previous Monster Shoots, first:

1 month old.

2 months old.

3 months old.

4 months old.

5 months old.

 TODAY: 6 months old-