A Weekend for the Books!

Well this weekend we went to my parent's house and had a great time with family and friends! My sister is getting married on April 25th and we had her "bachelorette dinner" on Saturday. We couldn't do all the normal "fun stuff" that goes along with some of those things because she is expecting her first baby in August, but we had a great time none the less! There was plenty of other things that happened this weekend that I would rather not post about because it doesn't deal directly with me and I just hope that things work out! We had a great time at the wedding shower seeing some familiar faces that haven't seen Berk since we went home for her "Welcoming Shower" back in October, and boy did she put on a show! She is now able to sit up from being laying down with such ease and Saturday and Sunday morning we woke up to her sitting up in her crib just looking at us! She is also pulling up on stuff and pulled up on a chair at Gran's on Thursday onto her knees! She isn't crawling per se but she is pretty darn close! She will get up on all fours and start going and then just lunge at whatever she is trying to get to! She cracks me up! Last night when we got home, she had her "before bed" bottle and then we put her down and that was not what she wanted to do! (Probably because she slept most of the 4 1/2 hours home!) She was up for about 30 minutes after she went down and was just sitting up in her bed, "talking" and playing! One time we were watching her on the monitor in our room and she was looking right at it, sitting up in bed as if to say "I can see you!" It was the funniest thing! We know this is just the beginning of the many wonderful times we are fixing to experience at our house! Well hope everyone has had a great Monday so far and I will leave you with some pictures from our eventful weekend!

Meadows

3/28/09...This is how we found Berk on Saturday and Sunday morning; sitting straight up, paci in mouth and talking away, waiting for our lazy bums to wake up!

3/29/09..."The Walck Girls" at the shower!

3/29/09...What a ham!! You can't tell that she loves the camera can you?! I guess I would too if it had been in my face since the wee moments of my birth!

3/29/09...Being a show off!

3/29/09...With Mema! This is my dad's mom and I just love her to pieces!

3/29/09...Pulling up on the new bed linens that Rachel got! Now, this is kind of funny but kind of creepy; her bed linens are almost IDENTICAL to the ones that we got for the new house! We live 4 1/2 hours from each other but still manage to have the same taste and think along similar paths! Weird but I love it! Love ya Rach!

3/29/09...Hanging out with Auntie Rach! She wanted nothing but to crawl all over Rachel's gifts! She won't be spoiled will she?!

3/29/09...Once again, she won't be spoiled will she?! She was hilarious climbing on the crock pot and then back to the bed linens bag!

3/29/09...A bow off of one of the gifts; now we do "big" bows, but we don't do BIG BOWS!

Picture post!

This post is going to be strictly pictures of our trip down to Houston! I will try to snap some pictures of the house this evening and post them! Hope you enjoy!

Meadows

3/13/09...Getting to the hotel around 2 in the morning is no fun for anyone!

3/14/09...Checking out the working dogs at the show! She was more interested in playing with dad's hat though!

3/14/09...At the show they had a "Birthing Center" where there were cows, pigs, sheep all having babies or had recently had babies (the week before). This little one's name was Melissa and I think she was born the day before we got there! Shucks!

3/14/09...This mama had 15 piglets and they were called "The Little Rascals!"

3/14/09...This was Lucky! He weighed less than Berk when he was born!

3/15/09...All of the colleges from around the state had animals there from their veterinarian programs!

3/15/09...They had all different kinds of cows there and of course this was one of my favorites just because they are so darn cute!

3/15/09...Berk loved looking at all the new animals! She couldn't figure out why this thing's nose kept coming through the fence though! Hopefully she will show one of these one day if we can convince dad of it! :)

3/15/09...The real reason we went to Houston: Rance and his swine! Unfortunately he went to the truck because he "didn't walk wide enough!" Seriously?!

3/15/09...Taking a bath in a BIG TUB! She loved laying the water and splashing around! That is now our way of bathing; the big girl way!

3/16/09...Berk's first outing to the zoo!

3/16/09...Taking all the pictures I could get!

3/16/09...We all took turns toting her around! She is getting heavy and you don't want to be toting her for very long or you wake up sore the next morning! (I know this from experience!)

3/16/09...One of my favorite zoo animals! This "little" guy was trying to get down the cliff to his mom but wasn't too excited about scaling the rough terrain! (I didn't want to bore you with all the usual zoo animal pictures!)

3/16/09...Still trucking along! She didn't sleep the whole time we were there!

3/16/09...In the car after a long day...

3/16/09...and this is what you get with a 6 1/2 month old! She was pooped!

3/17/09...Getting ready to make the ride home! She was in a great mood but was very vocal the whole way home! I don't think she cared too much for the car ride! (That makes two of us!)

3/17/09...The "river" in Bee Cave; it was the coolest little town!

3/17/09...Thad decided he needed a picture of both of us!

3/17/09...I know she was thinking "What is the world is this stuff?!"

3/17/09..."Hmmm but I think I like it!"

3/17/09..."Anything is better than that darn car at this point!"

3/18/09...She had been at Gran's all day while we tried to pack up some more! (Packing with a baby is no fun!) We think she is starting to feel her teeth because this is the normal scene around our house nowadays! In fact, she sucked on that bottom lip so much that day that she made it red and looked like she gave herself a sore!

3/19/09...Last day at the old house!

Back to the Grind

Well today we hit the ground running after just walking for the past week! I had my first commute from "town" to school this morning and it went really well except for the whole getting up 30 minutes earlier! We are almost totally moved into the new house and should complete moving the last bedroom today or tomorrow! We are absolutely in love with the amount of space the new house provides and we love the newness of it all! (I guess having new furniture arrive probably helps that a bunch!) We finally brought the dogs yesterday (the cat has been there since Friday when we starting staying at the new house), but not until I gave one of them a hair "butchering!" (Hair cut is too modest for what I had to do to his hair!) He is a Scottish Terrier and the yard that we had at the other house had a bunch of grass burrs in it, so put two and two together and you don't get a good outcome! It was amazing that his hair was still actually white under all the dirt! But that is the progress on the house and our moving situation!
Here is a little bit more about our trip down to Houston:
We arrived in Houston at 2 AM Saturday morning (after leaving at 3:45 PM Friday afternoon). It was drizzling on us the whole way down there and proceeded to do the same thing for the next two days! Luckily our hotel was in the same parking lot as the exhibit hall where the show was so it wasn't too terribly bad! The exhibitors at the stock show were awesome and I tried to refrain from spending any money, but of course that didn't happen! Berkley loved looking at all the animals and was very curious about all the sights and sounds! We watched the working dogs do their thing and it made me really want to have more patience with our Border Collie because I saw his potential! By Monday the weather was AWESOME and it turned out to be a perfect day for the zoo! Apparently everyone and their dog also had the same idea because the place was packed! (Plus it is in downtown Houston so that doesn't help!) After we got back to the hotel, the rest of the group went back to the exhibit hall for a bit and me and Berk stayed in the room so she could nap. After she napped for a bit, the older "kids" went to the rodeo and Darius Rucker concert while Gran and Pops babysat Berk! (Thanks so much by the way!) Then we got up Tuesday and left by 11 AM. The ride back was just as bad as the ride TO Houston but this time the weather was beautiful and we got back home not as late! We did stop in this town called Bee Cave right outside Austin and it was AWESOME! I will post pictures tomorrow of the trip and the house since my battery decided to be uncooperative today! Hope everyone has a wonderful Monday!
Meadows

We Are Back!

Well, unfortunately our time at Houston didn't go EXACTLY the way we wanted it (started out raining and then my brother-in-law's pig went to the truck), but we had a great time all the same! It was nice to have some time away from everything and just relax! We spent way too much money but had a wonderful time enjoying the scenery and of course the ZOO! I am just doing a "teaser" post because there is so much to post and I really don't want to sit at the computer that long but I hope you enjoy the teaser! We are also moving into the new house starting FRIDAY and getting new furniture on SATURDAY! We are super excited and can't wait to get all settled in!

Meadows

3/14/09...At one of the vendors. She was so funny because she just grabbed hold like she knew what she was doing! Maybe she will have a pony underneath her one day!3/16/09...At the zoo!

An Ode to Smalltown Things

Well as you can see from the blog's facelift, we are gearing up for the stockshow and rodeo coming up next week! This is just one thing that I have learned to enjoy since moving here and teaching at such a small school and my brother-in-law being involved in FFA. At our high school, there was not time for you to raise an animal and get it "show ready" if you were involved in sports, but out here, if you have the ability to do it, then you do! I have really grown to love seeing the pigs (our family's specialty) from when they are so little to when they are trucked off. I mean, it is amazing that those pigs have been around since a little after Berk was born which is kind of a cool thing. I hope that someday Berk will attend a small school and be able to raise an animal and then show it. I think it teaches the kids more about themselves than anything and definitely instills a sense of pride and responsibility. (The winning is definitely an added bonus!) But I think that is it...not a big poster this week, just counting down the days until Spring Break! The weather has been so nice up to this point and now all of a sudden we are having a cold spell! I wish Mother Nature would make up her mind and just let it be nice from here on out! But I am sure that besides the weather we will thoroughly enjoy ourselves; we are planning an outing to the zoo on Monday! Well, unless I get some cute pictures of Berk tonight, this will probably be my last post until after Spring Break and then I will probably need to make multiple posts because there will be so many pictures! Well hope everyone stays warm and have a great rest of the week!

Meadows

Here piggy piggy! Hopefully the one on the right (much bigger now) will bring home more than just the bacon for my brother-in-law!

6 Month Doctor Visit

Well yesterday, Berk had her 6 month doctor visit complete with 3 shots! YAY! Her stats are:

Weight: 17 lbs. (75th percentile)

Height: 27" (90th percentile)

Head: 17.4" (95th percentile)

The doc was very pleased with her progress and very happy about her balance when she sits up; yes, I said SITS UP!! I don't mean with assistance either, I mean BY HERSELF! I couldn't believe it when Friday I sat her on the table (with me close by) and just let her sit there and she could do it all by herself! It was awesome and I think she finally just got tired of leaning over her big fat belly! She didn't take her 3 shots so well this time and was not interested in rolling over last night when we would lay her on her back. (In fact I think she thought we were going to give her more shots when we would lay her down, poor thing!) This morning she woke up and was still in quite a bit of pain, but hopefully the Tylenol will work its magic! We also got to start her on 2nd foods yesterday, such as the mixed fruits and the meats with vegetables! Last night she had turkey and rice dinner with apples and plums for dessert! Needless to say, she loved the new stuff! Oh yeah, she also had her first "poo in the bathtub" moment on Friday night! I am not going to post a lot in this one because not much has been going on! I can't wait until Friday (the start of Spring Break) and our trek down to Houston! We HOPEFULLY will be moving into the house at the end of Spring Break so keep your fingers crossed! Well that is all for now and hope everyone is having a great week!

Meadows

3/4/09...Getting ready for bed and I wanted a picture of her before she hit the big 6 month mark!

3/5/09...Happy 6 month birthday!! (Or half birthday as we like to say!) She was so interested in dad's hat so we just had to put it on her! Thank goodness she is wearing pink or she might be mistaken for a boy!

3/6/09...After Uncle "Francis'" track meet! They did a great job and wound up coming in 3rd as a team!

3/6/09..."Hey mom, I don't need your help!" Berk's first moments of sitting up by herself! Such a big girl!!

3/8/09...Watching the NASCAR race! That picture perfect smile; LOVE IT!

Berkley Tate is 6 Months Old!

Well she is OFFICIALLY 6 months old as of 12:45 AM, today, March 5, 2009! To continue my story: about 11:00 PM or so the night I was induced we told everyone to settle in because the doc said it would probably be early the next morning when Berk made her debut! The nurse was supposed to come in at midnight to do my check but she never showed up, but had told me to call if I felt pressure. Well, for any of you who have had a baby with an epidural, you are NUMB from the waist down and I mean NUMB! I couldn't feel ANYTHING but she swore that I would feel this pressure! Well after she didn't check me at midnight I told Thad that I was going to go ahead and press the button and tell her I was feeling pressure just to get her to come and check me! Well, to my surprise, I was feeling pressure (just couldn't actually FEEL it) and Berkley was in position to make her long awaited debut! The nurse moved very quickly, transforming my lovely hospital bed into a birthing center! About the time that they are getting me into the "ready" position (those who have had a child know what this is, others who have NOT, use your imagination), my sister peeks around the corner and almost gets the moment from "Knocked Up." (The movie with Katherine Heigl!) So, she proceeds to go and tell everyone in the waiting room that we are on the home stretch and little did I know, they were all standing outside the room throughout the entire birthing process! Well once the doc got there, we started pushing and apparently I was a pretty good pusher! ("Why can't all of our patients push like this?!") After the second push, I looked over at the monitor and saw Berk's heart rate go WAY down and I mean WAY WAY WAY down. (When the thing turns red you know that it is not a good sign!) So we waited a couple of contractions and tried again and again her heart rate goes WAY down! About this time I am freaking out a little bit because I have seen too many "Baby Stories" on TLC and I know that that is not a good thing! The nurse did make the comment that her cord was probably just wrapped around her neck and that we needed to get her out! So I pushed one more time and that was the one. She came out screaming and hollering and all the usual stuff; they did have to suck some fluid out of her airway but nothing serious. As the doc is finishing everything up, she says, "Well there is the problem, there is a TRUE KNOT in her cord! (A rather skinny cord at that) Good thing we delivered her today otherwise it might have been bad news!" That is not exactly the words you want to hear come out of your doc's mouth but at least she was healthy and God had intervened and led us to go ahead and bring her into this world! So, that is the story of how she came to be! After she got all cleaned up and everything and tried to nurse a bit, they finished assessing her and all the family got to come in and meet her! It was a pretty cool experience and you would never have known that it was like 2 o'clock in the morning! I did get to FINALLY eat something at about 2 when my dad when to Whataburger! Now, I don't think I have ever felt more love for my husband than I did those moments when I was bringing our daughter into this world! He was right there the whole time, watched his daughter being born and cut the cord! (The watching thing we had agreed he wouldn't do, but he said it was something he couldn't help! "It was just right there!") And talk about bringing a grown man to tears; one of the few times I have seen my husband cry was when they gave Berk her first shots! It was so sweet and yet hilarious to me! (Since then he has not gone to ANY doctor's appointment when she has had to get shots!) But that is our story; this morning when I woke up at 5 AM, I remembered that at that time 6 months ago we were being wheeled into our recovery room where we finally got to nap a little bit! Well I am posting a few more pictures from that day and also some of the things she has done in her 6 months of life! Hope you enjoyed our story!

Meadows9/5/08...Right after she was born, getting cleaned up! She was obviously NOT HAPPY about coming into this world! (Right then anyways!)
9/5/08...Close up of our sweet baby girl!

9/9/08...After we went to the doctor for a weight check! She had already passed her birth weight when we went! 5 lbs. 9 oz. in this picture; look at her SKINNY arms and legs!

10/19/08...Our 2nd family picture. Berkley is 6 WEEKS old, the day before I went back to work! We took Meadows family pictures. This picture is from C.Gage Photography out of Lubbock. 10/10/08...After one of the football games; congratulating the boys on their win!
12/14/08...Dallas Cowboys vs. New York Giants! Berkley was not phased by the noise at all, she slept the ENTIRE time!1/10/09...After her first stock show with our favorite stock shower!! He is no longer the baby in the family!
3/3/09...She is such a happy baby and is very content in her day to day activities! I could not have asked for a sweeter or calmer first baby!

3/4/09...This is her newest thing! After she is done eating she will roll over in her chair and then scoot her butt out and last night she figured out that the floor wasn't far from her!

**So I need to do a comparison photo opportunity! I have pictures of Thad and Berk in the exact same position but a few things have changed from one picture to the other as you will see!

9/9/08 & 2/25/09