My new favorite pic

Who is this kid & what has he done with my baby?

Jackson turned 10 months old yesterday. I CAN'T believe it! He's doing so much now:
- He still army crawls, but man is he fast! He even chases the dog & cat on his belly.
- He has 1 tooth & 3 that are poking through - teething is fun, let me tell you!
- He can pull himself to standing - usually does this on someone, but has pulled up on the coffee table
- Eats everything in sight! His favorites are chicken fajita, mac-n-cheese, avocado, carrots, & of course, mandarin oranges. He recently was introduced to pizza (at school - I had nothing to do with it). He has eaten salmon too and seemed to like it. His Yaya gave him chocolate chip cookies & created a monster! We switched to ginger snaps 'cause they're cleaner.
- Drinks pretty well from a sippy cup, but will take the lazy way out and let you hold it if you let him
- He waves at everything - plants, reflections, the dog, complete strangers. (Don't worry Brennan, we will have the stranger talk with him).
- Says "dada" on a regular basis and at the right times. He says "mama" too, but only when he cries & I'm not sure he is really calling for me, but I like to think he is.
- Starting to clap, we think.
- Sleeps well in his bed usually. We had a little adjustment period after Hurricane Ike, but he seems to be back on track.
- Imitates sounds we make -- he clicks his tongue after us
- Survived his first hurricane
- Loves his mommy & daddy!

Baby Hailey is here!

Hailey Josephine Williams was born last night. She weighed 6 lbs 9 oz (a petite little thing!) and was 19 inches long. I think she has Tiff's nose. I can't wait to meet her in person & hug Tiff & JC. Congrats you two! You did a beautiful job!!!

I stand corrected!

I swore I would print a retraction....

We have 26 bags of debris not 17. Aaron worked so hard to bag all that up and he deserves full credit! Thanks hunny!

We now have power! -- it was restored late Sunday afternoon. I polled my students today & over half of them are still without power. This is crazy! Never seen anything like it.

Cookies & Cuteness!

Jackson's first chocolate chip cookie -- wowwie, what a mess! He had a few bites of one the day before this and when we took it away because of the mess, he was crushed. We decided (Yaya decided) to give him another one the next day and this was the result.

Jackson was cracking us up in his exersaucer the other night. He was cruising around it & as he would pass Aaron who would tickle his thigh, Jackson would squeal. It was just so darn cute. I sort of ruined a portion of the video by announcing that I may have inadvertantly captured Aaron's behind in the video, so I apologize for that ahead of time, but it is just too funny to pass up.

I'm a little behind...

Visiting Uncle Brennan in San Antonio. He took a much needed break from his law reading. Oh, and congrats to Brennan as he is the new 1st Year Student Bar Association senator at St. Mary's University. He faced many competitors, but brought his "A game" and won! Congrats, B! Mom still wants to make you buttons. Maybe for your next campaign.

While we were in San Antonio for Tiff's shower Jackson got sick. His first real illness. ;( He was running fever and must have had some sort of virus. This is very poor timing (as if there is ever good timing to be sick), the shower we were at for Tiff was a couples shower hosted by Aaron & I and Wendi (Tiff's sister) and her husband. Poor baby! He acted totally normal except that I could tell in his eyes that he didn't feel good AND as an added bonus -- ever time he spiked a fever he would also break out into hives. The Dr. said that most likely he would do that every time he ran a high fever. Terrific! If you click on the pics below, you can see the hives & that he doesn't feel well. The one of his leg is very blurry, but you can see the hives right at/above the ankle area.

I stayed home with Jackson on Monday, Sept 8th and Aaron stayed home with him on the 9th. I am very lucky to have a husband who will do that! A lot of dads believe sick children are the mom's responsibility, but not my hubby! However, you could still tell that Aaron is an amateur at dressing Jackson -- when I got home from work I could tell immediately that Jackson's shorts were on backwards. Too funny! Aaron swears he thought that those were back pockets....

We Made It!

Well, we're alive. Which is a blessing! Everything is an utter mess!! We were really fortunate that we had no real damage from Hurricane Ike. I huge limb broke from our neighbor's house and ended up in the grass between our two driveways missing her house & the Hiler's car. While we didn't have severe damage we had plenty to clean up! We ALONE had 17 bags of debris and a huge pile of limbs that wouldn't fit into a trash bag. I meant to take a picture and might still can -- I don't think they have picked it up yet. We are currently on day 7 without power, BUT my parents have power & have graciously allowed us to stay with them. It was crazy hot the first 2 days, but God sent us cooler temperatures and it was actually pleasant! Temps are projected to warm up here in the next few days so we will be staying with my parents until our power is restored. The power company has released a map of prospective restoration times & ours is by Thursday, September 25. Fabulous. We do however start school again Monday for teachers only & students on Tuesday given the schools have power. Anyway, I thought I'd post a few pics of our "adventure." Jackson experienced (& prevailed) his first hurricane at the ripe old age of 9 months!
This is a house a little ways from my parents'. I think it is an old parsonage since it is next to a church. The GIANT tree was completely uprooted raising the end of the barn and falling on the house. Scenes like these are all too familiar right now. So sad!

My hero bagging the debris in our backyard. Where am I? See those toes in the bottom of the pic? That's me - sick with Strep throat and watching Jackson in his stroller.

Aaron's parents evacuated La Porte to our house because we were further north than them. (Although they have power now & we still do not - lucky ducks!) Papa & Jackson swinging after the storm.

Gabby & Jackson hanging out in the dark with no power. Jackson only vocalizes how we were ALL feeling!

Aaron drinking "Hurricane Water." We never lost water like so many others did.

Me & Jackson the first night with no power.

Hurricanes a comin'

So Hurricane Ike is going to hit us. We are expecting it sometime Saturday with the beginning rains, etc. starting tomorrow. They have called off school for tomorrow & people are hunkering down. Aaron & I went to Costco last night & you would not believe the $580-700 generators flying off the shelves! Crazy! We bought batteries, water & dry goods just in case. I am praying it does not seriously affect our pretty house! Click here for the latest from NOAA. It is supposed to be a Category 3 (winds from 111-130 mph). This is the forecast from KHOU -- our house is slightly NW of the 2nd red dot. Yowzers!











I'll post more when I know more. Pray!

Found it!

I finally found the cord to transfer pictures, so here is what you've been missing! ;)

Our New Home - August 17, 2008

Jackson's 1st time to "get into something"

Our living room in progress. I went crazy bold with the paint -- Sassy Green

Jackson at his 9 month check up

Clay & Jackson - so cute! Jackson leaned in at just the right time.

The Bee Bop Band has been a life saver - keeps him busy for hours.

My wonderful husband who has busted his tushie to make everything perfect for me. He spent all of his Labor Dat weekend painting, tiling, and moving. He is so good to me! I love you so much, Aaron!

Jackson trying out his new table & chairs

Pulling out as many toys as possible in his new playroom!

Happy playing in his playroom! He looks so grown up in this picture.

Boys love their cars!

Zwieback toast - yummy!