Happy Holidays!!!

We are packing to head to Texas for the holidays.  We are so excited to see our families.  This will be Cecelia's first Christmas so it will be extra special!  Cecelia just keeps growing and amazing me.  She is a talker!!  She lays on the floor and babbles constantly.  She even answers me when I say something to her.  No I have no clue what she is saying but it is so fun that she answers back.

Cecelia acheived another milestone yesterday.  She ate cereal for the first time.  It was cute.  Today she ate really well!  I was suprised she took to the cereal so well.  

John and I hope that you have a blessed Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

I have included some pictures that I took yesterday.

The best present ever...Cecelia!!

Cecelia chewing on her spoon after eating.

Cecelia checking out her spoon.  Note the fairly clean face.  She is not a very messy eater!

Can you belive it, Cecelia is 5 months old!  We had her well baby check up today.  She weighs 14 pounds 11 ounces and is 23 inches long!!  She has gotten to be such a big girl.  She rolls all over now and can pick up her upper body and get on her knees just not at the same time yet.  I don't give it much longer and she will be crawling!  The doctor told me today that I could start her on rice cereal.  I bought it today so we can try it tomorrow.  I am so excited.  I am very amazed by her growns both physically, and mentally.  I am enjoying every minute with her.

On the school front, I finished my third semester.  I got an A so I have maintained my 4.0.  I really enjoy my classes.  I am learning great things and I have enjoyed my professors emensly.

John is doing well.  He had to go out of town on business for a month so I spent that time in Texas helping my parents.  

We are both looking forward to this Christmas with Cecelia and our families.  I have included some pictures of Cecelia at the squadron Christmas party.  Cecelia is going to be warped...Santa doesn't ride in a sleigh in her world...he rides in a helicopter!

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Merry Christmas Disco Style!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

We are all home now

The baby and I made the trip back to Fort Walton Beach a week ago.  A few days after we got back John returned home from his business trip.  Cecelia and I were in Texas for a month.  We spend a week with Aaron and Joslin, then three weeks at Mom and Dad's helping them with anything I could in the after Ike recovery process.  It was good to be home even though Galveston is quite a different place right now.  But I saw amazing progress inthe month I was there.  Gavestonians are very hard working reslient people.  It makes me proud to be from Galveston.

While I was home I worked on submitting a grant to Guaranty Bank for my dad.  They are giving grants to small business recovering from Ike.  The day I left dad got the call that he had gotten the grant.  I was so excited and very thankfull!  I would recommend Guaranty Bank to anyone now.  They really care about the ordanary hard working person.  

While we were in Galveston, Cecelia learned to roll over and now is rolling everywhere!  She is also starting to scooch around on the floor.  She can get across her blanket before I know it!  Pretty soon she will be all over the place!  Time to baby proof!

John had a good trip but is glad to be home.

Cecelia has her first cold.  Poor Thing!  She has actually been really good.  She fusses every now and then but over all she still has her sweet disposition.

Here are some random pictures I have taken since my last post...

Grammy McBride (My Grammy) with Cecelia

Cecelia with Papi and Grammy Bell (John's Grandparents)

Cecelia learning bad things from her Uncle Aaron and Uncle Grumpy (AKA Uncle Andrew)

Cecelia after rolling over for the first time!

Cecelia has found her feet...Footcicle anyone??

Cecelia's 1st Halloween

Here are some cute pics of Cecelia's 1st Halloween.  She has 2 costumes so she was a ballerina during the day and a Dalmatian tonight.  She looked absolutely precious.

Happy Halloween

Here are some pictures I took of Cecelia in some of her Halloween outfits.  I will take more tomorrow when she is dressed as a balerina and a dalmatian.  She is so cute and is getting so big!!

My Big Girl!

Cecelia is growing so much! I know it has been a while since I posted pictures. Sorry about that! Live has been hectic. Mom and Dad are working to get everything back in order. Dad hired a guy to work on downstairs.

He has a helper that works with him. Between them, my dad and my brothers they have gotten downstairs totally cleaned out and the sheet rock torn out. Dad and the neighbors were arguing about who had the biggest pile of stuff in their front yard. Andrew says Dad's pile is by far the biggest! They sprayed with chlorox and have dehumidifiers going. Next they get to spray with a mold/mildew retardant then let that dry then they can rebuild. Dad has been working on the office. He says the more he works the more it looks like nothing has been done. There is just so much to go through. He is in the process of buying the stuff he needs to get back going with his business. He is my hero! He has rolled up his sleeves and dug in with determination to be back up and going soon. I wrote a letter to the editor of the Galveston Daily News. I will let you know if it gets published and post a link. The letter is about the small business owners in Galveston who are silent heroes in the process of rebuilding.

Back to Cecelia! She is growing so much!! At her 2 month doctors appointment she weighed 10 pounds 1 ounce and was 22 inches long. She is making new sounds and is so alert! She has learned to grab stuff she just hasn't gotten the let go part down yet. Her favorite thing to grab is my hair! She smiles ALL the time! She is a really good baby. We are blessed with her.

Here are some pictures that we have taken the past few days...

Cecelia in her carrier ready to go! She loves riding in the car.

The future's so bright she has to wear shades!!

Another picture in her shades!


Cecelia playing with her toys. She is so funny. She will look at one and end up bonking her head witht he other then she looks at her other hand like "what the heck just happened!" She loves her toys!

Hurricane Ike and my Parents - Update

In my last post I shared that my parents house had about 4 feet of water downstairs but we were not sure about Daddy's office. Well, the news on that is not good. It is a complete loss. The water was about 5 1/2 feet deep. The water line was eye level to my dad. The pictures are just shocking. Out of my respect for my parents I have not included pictures. If at some point they say it is ok I will share a few. It is unbelieveable to see them. Dad and John made the trip to Texas last Tuesday. On Wednesday, John was able to get onto the island with Andrew. They went to the house to take the supplies that dad brought back and they went down to the office to survey the damage. They took lots of pictures of the main part of the office, due to furniture blocking the door they could not get in the side with the storrage room and conference room. They didn't want to break the door down. On Thursday, dad was able to get on the island for a few hours. It was good for him to go. He needed to see the damage so he could grasp it all. He said the house was not as bad as he thought it would be but the office was very upsetting for him. He has worked all his life to build it up and now it was in ruins. To make it worse, the building owners had people throwing all of dad's stuff out into the street! He was more than pissed!! He told them not to touch anything else. Because of confidentiality he has to be the one to destroy the wet and nasty files. I think he should contact a lawyer because oficcially they were not allowed on the island so they could not get to the building to do anything or photograph for insurance purposes so to me he has some kind of lawsuit since they just started throwing his stuff out before he could legally be there. If he had not gotten on when he did he could have come back to an empty office and confidential informatoin would have been disposed of improperly. It would have been a huge liability for him.

After a lot of thinking and soul searching about what to do about the business he has decided to build it back up. He has all of the data so he just needs to get a few computers and a phone line and he is back in business. He thinks his clients will need him more than ever since they will have to fill out extra parts to tax returns to claim Disaster Tex Relief. There is a whole Disaster Tax kit people will have to deal with and you know as well as I do that that kind of stuff can get very confusing. He really wants to be there for his clients.

I will be heading to Texas at the beginning of October to help in anyway I can off the island. I cannot risk taking Cecelia to Galveston at this point. Not for quite a while. I will go one day without her to Galveston. My aunt Ann is going to keep her for me. I need to go home to see it. Maybe it is morbid curiosity but I have a strong pull there, probably becuase that has been my home most of my life.

On a good note, Grammy's house is ok. Lots of trees down but her house is fine. There is still no power as of today but they are expecting it to be on by Thursday.

Keep Mom, Dad, and Andrew in your prayers as they begin the cleaning and rebuilding process. They need them to help keep them strong through the process.

Hurricane Ike

This is a very difficult post for me to write. As most of you know my parents live in Galveston. The evacuated here to Florida along with my Grammy. My Grammy is so in love with Cecelia. It is so wonderful to see them together. Grammy loves to hold her but she has so far refused to change a diaper. Her excuse is that she forgot how. :o)

I will give the good news first...My brother Andrew had to stay becuase of work. He is ok. We are very thankful for that. He was able to get to mom and dad's house.

The bad news is...the house had about 4 feet of water in it. Andrew got a ride with some military folks and they took him to the house in one of their big trucks. He said when they pulled up you could see the water line on the outside of the house. He did a quick walk through and said that the house is secure the garage door did not go, neither did any other doors or windows. He said the roof looked good he didn't think it leaked. Upstairs is liveable. John is going to go back with dad when he goes so that he can help along with Andrew and Aaron. I would like to go, however it is not a safe environment for Cecelia.

We don't know anything about the office but reports say that the water was 6 feet high down there. Andrew will let us know once he can get here.

We are very thankful even though they had lots of damage. It could have been much worse. The mose important things are safe the people. We were so thankful to hear Andrew was safe. As most of you know Andrew lives with my parents. His room is downstairs so he has lost most of his stuff. Lots of people have asked what they could do to help him and if there were things he needed. My suggestion is gift cards. He is going to have to replace so much.

The most important thing is to pray for a quick and easy recovery. Please please please pray!!!!

Mom and Dad have a great attitude about the whole thing. They are such strong people and will come out on top!

Cecelia's New Friend!

Our friends Julia and Seamus welcomed their new baby boy on August 22nd. His name is Cullen Seamus. He looks just like his daddy! Below is a picture of Cecelia with Cullen. Somehow they were both smiling at the same time.

Cecelia's International Fashion Show!

Euframia, one of the CPAs that works for my dad and good friend of our family, just returned from visiting her family in the Phillipines this past week. She brougth Cecelia back two beautiful dresses. I had to share the pictures of her in them with all of you. She is absolutely adorable in both of them!! Thanks Euframia!

6 weeks and counting!!

We have made it through 6 weeks! I have made it through a week and a half with just John, the baby and I. John is gone for business this week so I am going it al by myself. Man it is tough! Cecelia is a good baby but boy is she high maintanace! She is growing so much and is doing such cute things everyday! She is smiling now and not just becuase of gas. When I get her up in the mornings she smiles at me and coos. It is so precious.

I had my 6 week well momma check on Monday. Everything is great. I got a perfect checkup. Cecelia slept through the apt. thank goodness. I was worried she would be fussy and I would have to go back another day.

I weighed Cecelia the other day by getting on the scale then getting onthe scale with her and seeing what the difference was. Well I was shocked. She weighs 12.5 pounds! I can't believe it!!!

Here are some pictures I took yesterday...

Cecelia wore her Texas Tech onsie to begin the day yesterday. It was given to her by Mrs. Cole on behalf of her late husband John. Mr. Cole and I had a friendly rivaly going while he was alive and I think of him often when I see anything about Texas Tech. He would make fun of me for being an Aggie and I would make fun of him for being a Red Raider. Well as you can see Cecelia shares my sentiments on Texas Tech! :o) If you notice I said to begin the day...it did not take long for her to poop all over it! I had to grin when this happened! Another way to show her feelings for Texas Tech! Of course my joking is all in good fun!

There is my pretty girl's smile! She is so cute! She is looking at herself in a mirror.

I was holding her in one hand on my lap and taking the pictures with the other...she leaned into the camera as I snapped the picture. I love this picture!

She is definately a thinker! I think she is wondering what her crazy momma is doing with the camera!

1st Month

Cecelia was one month old this past week. It is hard to remember a time without her. She is such a wonderful baby! I want to share a few pictures of her from this past month. Enjoy!

Cecelia wither her Uncle Grumpy! Check out Cecelia's onsie. She wore it in honor of her uncle.

Cecelia in cool shades!

Cecelia playing in her Baby Einstien play gym that her Great Aunt Arlene and Great Uncle Bubby got for her. She loves it!!

Cecelia in one of her pretty dresses. We were going to meet the teachers at Edwins the school I taught at. She was a big hit! They all thought she is adorable.

Couldn't resist this one. No explanation needed! Gig 'Em Aggies. Fightin Texas Aggie Class of 2030!

Cecelia's Baptism

Yesterday we celebrated Cecelia's Baptism. It was a wonderful day! We got to celebrate with family and friends. We had people over before the Baptism for yummy brisket sandwiches and lots of other munchies. Then we all went together to the church. The mass was beautiful. She was the only baby being Baptized so it was even more special. Below are some pictures that were taken during the ceremony and after.

Thank you to all who were able to come and share this special day with us! You helped make Cecelia's day even more special!

During Cecelia's Baptism



Father, John, Cecelia and I after the Baptism


Cecelia, John and I with Cecelia's Godparents, Andrew and Bernie


Three generations of us have been Baptized in the gown Cecelia is wearing. The gown was hand-made for my mom by her aunt and Godmother. It has been worn by mom and all of her brothers and sisters and all of their children and now the third generation will wear it.

Week 2 with Cecelia

I just have to say I love being a mommy! Cecelia is a really good baby. She is sleeping good and eating good. Yesterday we went to the outlets shopping with MawMaw. I wanted to go to the Carter outlet. Today we went to lunch with my friends Hilary and April. Cecelia slept the whole time. After that we went to Sears, Bath and Body Works, and the Gap. I am amazed at what a good car rider Cecelia is and what a good shopper she is. She takes after her mommy! :o)

Cecelia's Baptism is going to be August 9th at the Hirlburt Field Chapel. For those who live in this area, if you would like to come please let me know. The chapel is going to reserve pews for our family and friends. The Baptism will be at the 5 pm mass.

Here are some pictures that we took this past week...

Sleeping Beauty...She always sleeps with one hand up. I think it is because she had to hear "raise your hand" a ton when I was pregnant!! :o)

Bathtime...She cries alot when I bathe her but then she loves cuddling after her bath!

Getting ready to go to the outlets shopping! She was born to shop! :o)

Baby Lo-Jack

Several people have asked me what the purple thing on Cecelia's leg is so I thought I would post here for others who might be wondering. It is what the hospital calls baby lo-jack. If you get near the doors to the maternity ward with the baby the alarms chirp at you to let you know you are too close to the doors. If you try to leave the maternity ward alarms sound in the hospital alerting the staff that someone is trying to leave with a baby. Whent he alarm goes off, the doors automatically lock. There have never been any babies taken from the Eglin hospital but they want to assure that it never does happen. While we were there, the alarms went off. The nurses went in every room to check to make sure you had your baby. Apparently someone didn't know and walked up to the door. I was very imressed with how fast the nurses checked and made sure all babies were where they were supposed to be. Also, we were instructed to only let personell in purple scrubs and name tags with pink outlines to leave the room with the baby. We were even told not to let a doctor who was not wearing purple scrubs and a nametag with pink outlines take the baby. They are very serious about the security measures.

Cecelia's First Week

It has been a wonderful, hectic, sleepless, joyous week! Cecelia is doing great and we are adjusting to our new angel. I stare at her in amazement. She is so beautifully perfect! Once we got the breastfeeding thing down, she is a fantastic sleeper. I hope that continues. This has been a week for firsts. Coming home, first bath at home, and meeting lots of new people. Here are some pictures we took this week.

Cecelia's First Bath...She was not too happy about it!





All cozy after her bath



Callie trying to look into the Pack and Play to see Cecelia. She is still pretty skittish around her. She comes and looks at her but when Cecelia makes a noise she disappears for a while.

Cecelia Eileen

Here are some of the pictures that we tok at the hospital. Keep in mind I am not looking my best!!

Cecelia's First Picture at about 1 minute old...

Mommy and Daddy Meeting Cecelia...

Mommy with her Little Aggie Class of 2030! Whoop!

Daddy with Cecelia...

A right of passage for all Pavelow babies!

Arriving Home with Cecelia...

Well it is time to say night night! I will post more pictures another day.