Making the Aggie Parents Proud

KK's Sunday School teacher, Mr. Michael, just informed me this past Sunday that he now shares a story about Katelynn every chance he gets.

He asked all the children what their favorite songs were. He said usually KK is pretty quiet in Sunday School, but she became animated and exclaimed "The Aggie Song!" Mr. Michael said he didn't know that song and asked her to sing it. She proceeded to regale the class with a full rendition of the song, not missing a single word.

“The Spirit of Aggieland” (Words by Marvn H. Mimms)

Some may boast of prowess bold

Of the schools they think so grand

But there’s a spirit can ne’er be told

It’s the Spirit of Aggieland.

We are the Aggies – the Aggies are we

True to each other as Aggies can be

We’ve got to FIGHT boys

We’ve got to fight!

We’ve got to fight for Maroon and White

After they’ve boosted all the rest

They will come and join the best

For we are the Aggies – the Aggies are we

We’re from Texas AMC

Doctors and Dentists and Haircuts - OH MY!

KK seemed to hit a milestone around her 3rd birthday. She decided she loved the doctor's office and did fabulous at her 3 year well check. So I got a little brave.

A couple of weeks ago, I took her to a regular haircut place without all the coddling, kids' tv shows, etc. KK expects things to be the same every time and has the memory of an elephant, so I was a little nervous. I explained to her that this haircut place was different and that there wouldn't be TV or candy, but that mommy would bring a lollipop for her to eat afterward. Her stylist was....well, pretty severe, pushing KK's head this way and that and constantly reminding her to "Hold Still!" Perhaps this was better, however; Katelynn listened to everything that lady said without so much as a tear or fuss!

So I got braver. I made the first dentist appointment at a regular dentist. We don't have dental insurance right now so I sure wasn't going to drop a bunch of money on a pediatric dentist only to have her refuse to open her mouth. We went with the economy dentist. Once again, Katelynn did amazing. She wanted to lay down on mommy, so I laid in the chair and KK laid right on top of me. She let them do a full cleaning and followed every command. She was thrilled about her bag of dental goodies and carried it around all afternoon.

I guess she is growing up... it's a mix of sadness and happiness all at once.

A 3 Year Old's Perspective

We spent New Year's weekend 2010 at the Ranch with our friends the Clarks and their two little ones Bobby and Lindsay. We had a wonderful time and did all sorts of fun things with the kids - decorating rocks with floam (which - sidebar - is weird, weird stuff), throwing leaves, digging in the mud, climbing in the treehouse, taking walks, getting tossed around on the bed by the daddies, and much more.

Nanna asked KK what she did at the Ranch. KK's reply? In a very deliberate, breathy voice: "Nanna, we ate OREOS. Do you know what those are?!"

Mommy didn't take one picture of the oreo consumption, but that was apparently what won the heart of our 3-year old!

2009 in Review

2009 has been a busy year of heartache, joy, laughter, tears... I thought I would re-cap it via monthly highlights. I end this year with a thankful heart to God for the tremendous blessings bestowed upon our family. We don't deserve it...

January: I started a new part-time job back in the world of public accounting! At the end of the month, life changed drastically for my family as my sister-in-law was rushed to the hospital at 20 weeks pregnant with twin girls.

February: On the first day of February, we lost our precious niece Lily who had to be delivered too early to survive outside the womb. This was the worst day of our lives. On February 26th, just 4 weeks later, our niece Isabelle was born at only 23 weeks, 6 days gestation. She began a long stay in the NICU that was a day-by-day fight for life.

March: We served as small group leaders of “Financial Peace University” throughout the Spring, which we highly recommend for anyone!

April: We said good-bye to Lily at a beautiful Easter weekend service. Izzy continued to grow stronger in the NICU though there were still many rocky days of uncertainty.

May: My friend Kelly took me on a girls’ weekend to Clearwater Beach, Florida. Wow, do I have a great friend or what?!

June: Gene and I celebrated our 11th anniversary and had a little “staycation” at the Four Seasons Resort here in town. I gave massage one more try and have officially kissed it good-bye forever – not for me. My dad retired from Lockheed after 35 years - a proud daughter moment. Izzy went home from the hospital after nearly 4 months in the NICU!

July: We took Katelynn to her first fireworks show and she loved it.

August: Gene officially entered “mid-30’s.”

September: Katelynn started pre-school and Aggie football season commenced. Gene and I enjoyed a weekend getaway in College Station. Whoop!

October: We took KK to her first fightin’ Texas Aggie football game. She did great and absolutely loved sleeping on the pull-out couch in the hotel. Gene took Katie to her first U2 concert – very exciting!

November: KK turned 3 years old and had her first big birthday party, complete with castle bounce house in the backyard. At the end of the month, she decided to mail her pacifiers to the tooth fairy – a very big deal. Gene ran his first half-marathon.

December: Gene ran half-marathon #2! Katie is thinking about it… not sure yet. Christmas is a whole new world for KK this year and it’s lots of fun to celebrate this holy holiday with a 3-year old.

White Christmas!

Christmas 2009 was my first EVER white Christmas...only took 34 years for that to happen here in DFW, Texas! Beautiful white powder poured down on Christmas Eve, and there was still plenty of it on the ground for a couple of days afterward. Oh, joy!

KK was lucky enough to enjoy her first white Christmas at the ripe old age of three. It is hard to believe this is her fourth Christmas here on earth. This was certainly a fun year with her; her understanding of baby Jesus, gift giving (and receiving of course), and all those other wonderful things has reached new heights and it made for one excited little girl.

Katelynn's main Christmas gift this year (from mommy and daddy) was a glider - basically a bike without pedals. Everyone on the internet raved about these; they are supposed to help with balance and eliminate the "training wheels" stage. KK is still not so sure about, though I'm sure she will learn as she develops further. Her favorite gift was actually the bike helmet. Go figure.

She also loves her Melissa & Doug Ice cream set from Aunt Doris and Uncle John. She has been scooping up lots of great concoctions for the family, though she prefers to choose the flavors herself. You may not get your requested combination if KK is serving!

Our Fightin' Texas Aggie

This year we decided to take KK to Aggieland for a football game. It went well enough at the first game that we went back for a second! It definitely requires a measure of patience, but a portable DVD player made the car trip very tolerable. Trips for snacks and corn dogs made the game reasonably fun for her as well. KK loves to sing the Spirit Song - she knows all the words...thanks to this proud Aggie mommy who sings it to her all the time! She also likes to yell Hullabaloo Caneck Caneck! at the top of her lungs. She wore her Aggie cheerleader outfit and enjoyed getting her face painted. To cap off a great day, she absolutely loved sleeping on a pull-out couch at the hotel.

We look forward to sending KK off to Aggieland in Fall 2025!

By Jove I Think I've Got It!

A few days ago, I lamented KK's sleeping woes as she struggled with the transition to sleeping without pacifiers. While she has been slowly improving, she is still clearly anxious about being left in her bed alone and it hurts a mommy's heart!

Two days ago I tried something new for nap. I let her lay down on my bed and watch a DVD. This made her so happy - no anxiety at all - and she was out within minutes. Now, Dr. Ferber would still say I am using a "sleep aid" but I will take it for nap!

I still was not sure what to do about bedtime other than let her cry, because we are not going to be watching TV every night to fall asleep. Every night lately, the routine is for her to cry in her room, then come out onto the upstairs landing with a blanket, then talk to herself till she falls asleep. We live with this routine since she doesn't ever try to come downstairs; we move her to her bed every night once she is fast asleep. Last night the usual anxiety antics began when it was clear I was about to leave. So instead of letting her cry, I asked if she wanted to lay down on the landing. Her face absolutely lit up with happiness. I put down a little pallet for her, complete with pillow, blankets, books, and stuffed animals. She happily waved good-bye to me. YESSS!