What we've been up to...

Since the last post we have had Halloween and Thanksgiving and we are now getting ready for Christmas.

We didn't do much for Halloween this year as we were out in the middle of no where visiting with family from out of state. Jarrod's great-uncle died and so the funeral was on the 31st in Cherokee. Carley was able to do some trick-or-treating at the daycare but that was about the extent of our October. We never even made it to her day care's pumpkin patch so I don't have those pictures to share.

November is the month of Thanksgiving, well, and the start of deer hunting. I think Jarrod ended up at the ranch for 3 out of the 4 weekends in November while Carley, Jersey, and I headed the opposite direction to go stay with my parents every weekend except for Thanksgiving. 4 hour trips are harder on me than on it is Carley with her sleep schedule. For Thanksgiving, we headed to the ranch for a visit with Jarrod's Mom's side and some family from Alabama. Some of Jarrod's family from south Texas were able to make it so Carley had fun with lots of girl cousins.

Also, during this month I took Carley in for a well visit and shots....yes, she got the regular flu shot and the swine flu shot. We are 1/2 way vaccinated as I have to go back this month (Dec 10th) to get round 2. Also found out that we don't have to have any more shots till she is 4!!! YEAH!!! She will still continue to have her annual visit but no more going back every 3 months! Large victory in our books as the visits take about 2 hours...that is a LONG time to keep a toddler entertained in a small room.

December is here and nearly almost 1/2 way gone. I have been mostly done with Christmas shopping for about a month or 2 now so I'm enjoying the holiday atmosphere again this year. It is so much more relaxing when the shopping is done and you can just enjoy the people (well, most of them). So far this month we have experienced snow, which I actually got to stay home for the whole day with Carley and 2 days later we now have wind blowing (last I heard) about 60 mph. That is a bit windy, but we are managing. I will try to get pictures uploaded soon as I'm trying to sort through some pictures to send out.

We are gearing up for another busy Christmas week as we will be traveling again this year as we have always done in the past. The only day of the year where we can end up at 3 towns for Christmas, to be able to visit with family, and actually enjoy the day. Don't get me wrong, we are worn out by the time we get to bed but we thoroughly enjoy getting to visit with so many families during the day.

Well, that is what we have been doing...staying busy and trying to take in every day. Hope everyone is well and enjoying life.

Love to you all!!! Hutchinson crew

Another New Classroom

I guess a sign of Carley getting bigger to me is that she continues to move up at daycare. She is now in her 4th classroom starting this morning. The daycare staff does a good job of letting the kids "visit" the next room before they actually get moved up. Ms. Dakota (the morning teacher) already knew Carley but Jarrod and I got to meet her this morning and I'm looking forward to meeting Ms. Brittany this afternoon. Some of the kids look familiar but there is one that is always right with Carley so she walked in and waved bye to us and off we went. All the teachers get a kick out of us because all the kids apparently cry in the mornings and Carley actually waves bye to us as though to say "I'm here with my friends, you may now leave". I just pray it continues to be this easy.

I will try to get random pictures posted sometime in the near future.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Don't forget...

I had planned to give Carley a bath Saturday night but after only getting a 30 minute nap throughout the day she ended up in bed sooner than normal. Sunday morning I went in to get her and she had poop in her diaper (which is typical), but there was some odd stuff on her leg. I kept looking (and still haven't figured it out) but ended up bathing her Sunday morning. I took off her dirty diaper, wiped her down, and cleaned her up, then decided to bath her first thing to get the stuff on her leg. Well, instead of putting a diaper on to turn around and take it off, I opted for waiting and just sending her straight to the bathtub, only....I didn't get her in there before she was standing in a puddle of pee all over the bathroom floor. In the future, know that hearing running water can make a young child feel the urge to pee as well.

Have a great week!

18 months today

Our sweet little Angel is 18 months old today! She seems to be growing very well and fast.

She is walking, running, and continues to get into everything that she possibly can. She

is so much fun to have around. Most have asked and yes, she is finally starting to talk more.

Some of her favorite words that we hear far more often are...

Mom

Dad

Jersey (usually yelling at her while she is barking outside followed by jibberish...

gee, I'm not sure where she might have heard that before?!?)

Mimi

Sarah

Some of the phrase that we are still working on but we have heard her say...

I love you

thank you

please

daycare

cookie

drink

and of course everyone wants her to say their name (harder task)

She has been such a blessing in our life!!! We do not go to the doctor this month but we do next month so I will send an update then. I can't remember if I already mentioned, but we now have a new pediatrician so let's all hope he doesn't move on us as well.

Hope everyone has a good week!!!

Last Couple of Weeks

Here is an update from the last couple of weeks...

The Tuesday before Labor Day weekend Carley comes home from daycare sick (again)!!! Jarrod ended up staying home with her on Wednesday as we thought she felt better only to realize we were wrong about the time we were going to walk out the door that morning. She wasn't getting any better so we figured we would take her to the doctor to see what is going on. She ended up with a 24 hour stomach bug but with her being so much younger the doctor told us that it would take up to a week.

Friday was Jarrod's birthday and the wonderful day that we were able to head to the ranch for an extended weekend. Some other family came in for the weekend so we had a good time. We had a rough weekend as Carley decided she didn't want to miss anything by sleeping so we struggled during nap times and going to bed each night but we ended up winning in the long run. She was able to go riding around with us while we were there, and throughout the weekend we were able to see cows, horses, and even some deer. Wonderful weekend!!!

This past weekend I was able to go on a retreat with my Mom. Thoroughly enjoyed that. I always enjoy being able to get out and go on long walks in the woods with new scenary. Jarrod stayed home and kept Carley and seemed to have fun besides the fact that he was sick Friday night and she was sick all day Saturday. They both had the same thing so I was just glad to see they were over it by the time I got home. Let's just pray she stays well this weekend.

Last night we decided that we all felt well enough to run over to the Permian Basin fair for a couple of hours last night. Lots of fun! We walked around and showed Carley the FFA critters, although she couldn't take her eyes off of a bungee slinger contraption, not sure I have a picture, but it looks like a sling shot and tosses you around like a I don't know what. Jarrod took her through the petting zoo and she seemed to enjoy that as well (yes, we washed her hands good afterwards).

I will try to post pictures as soon as I can that will go with all of these stories but I haven't had a chance to download anything yet.

Hope everyone has a good week and upcoming weekend!!!

Happy Birthday Dear!!!

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday to Jarrod,

Happy birthday to you!!!

Happy birthday dear...I hope it is a good one. We love you big bunches! You are the best husband, and father, anyone (especially us) could ever hope and pray for!!!

With all our Love,

Me, Carley, and Jersey

Goes with last post

Apparently I deleted this picture when adding comments to the last post.

Picture Time

Here are some of our latest picutres (I actually downloaded when there were only about 50 instead of 300). Anyways, here we go...

They had Rocky's birthday party at the ballpark one Sunday evening so we went to show Carley all the different mascots...some she didn't mind, others we ran from. Here is the Midland Socker's mascot (I think his name is PK). We were just checking him out.

Next on the list was the Church's Chicken mascot and Juice the Moose (Rockhound's mascot). We like Juice...

Here are all the mascots that were at the birthday party. The Super Cuts guy on the far left was terrifying to Carley...she came so close to letting a real tear go that we had to leave. From L-R: Super Cuts, Midland High Bulldog, Chuckee Cheese mouse, H-E-B sack, Bowie Horned Toads, someone Eagles (guessing a local J.H.), Rocky, Sonic drink, and Permian Mojo

Lots of fun for the kids!!!

One weekend we went to San Angelo for birthdays, here is Carley playing with her cousin Alexa. Carley is trying to show Alexa how to draw.

Having spaghetti dinner all by myself one night when Mommy was out running errands.

Pre hair cut...

During hair cut...

I can see again!!! After hair cut...

Here are all the pictures we have for now.

Enjoy...

First Haircut on Sunday

I have been wanting to get Carley's hair cut for a long time now (just her bangs), but haven't done it. I was hoping to find a place that had special seats with cartoons on in the front of her so that she would pay more attention to the tv and less to the scissors. There was one place that was susggested in town that is like that but I had not taken the time. It finally got to me so Jarrod and I tag teamed Carley and got it done, she did very well and was happy throughout the whole process. We did not touch the curls but the bangs were cut a bit shorter than I was picturing, but it is hair and it will grow back.

I will post pictures but I think I have noticed my own pattern...lots of posts then lots of pictures...will try to get it done soon.

Have a good week!!!

God IS at work!!!

On Monday Jarrod and I were able to meet up with a friend for lunch. We had a nice conversation but at one point we were talking about our kids and our walks with God. He was saying that his wife does not feel as though she is as close to God as she would like because she is so busy with the kids. He then explained how he told her that she is walking closer to God than she thinks. He explained it like this...sometimes a child sits in the floor and pitches a fit because they can't do something or something didn't go their way. The next minute you are telling them not to do something (for their own good) but they continue to do it because they don't know better or they are looking for a response. Either way, that is how God is looking at us. He gives us all the guidelines and all the mechanics to follow him and do what is right but we still continue to do what we want to do then sit in the floor and pitch a fit because it is not what WE wanted.

This was just another lesson learned for me and now every time Carley pitches a fit I wonder what I have done to make God look at me like I look at Carley.

Enjoy the rest of the week!!!

Parent's Joy

Wednesday and Thursday of last week Carley came home from daycare in different clothes than she was dropped off in due to what we call "blow outs". Saturday evening Carley ended up with a fever and diarrhea. Saturday night, during the middle of the night, she ended up pooping and it leaked all over her, the crib, and her blanket. Not a lot of fun at all. She got rid of the fever Sunday evening but still had the diarrhea so I kept her home Monday. Took her to daycare Tuesday to find out that 1/2 the class also had diarrhea (so it wasn't just us). I picked her up Tuesday in the same outfit that she was dropped off in. I got so excited!!! I got a few strange looks from the other kids but the parents understood. This morning looked more like a normal diaper. Yeah for normal diapers. Believe me when I say I didn't understand the excitement of things like this until I became a parent, but you get so happy over the small things in life.

So now I will move on to better things...Jarrod, Carley, and I have stayed busy this summer. Besides a family reunion one weekend I'm not sure that I could pinpoint specific adventures that we have been on besides the times that we were able to visit with family and friends. I think that gives us more joy that going off for a weekend by ourselves. At this point I think we have something planned every weekend for the rest of August and September, then on to getting hunting stuff ready in October, hunting season starts in November and December is always busy. So I guess we are going to have a busy rest of the year. I will stop in and give you some updates though.

Hope everyone is doing well!!!

God is SO Good and I am SO Blessed!!!

I am going to start out by bragging on my husband a bit. Last weekend he planned (for a whole week) a one night get-a-way for just the 2 of us. Carley has been teething and showing more of an attitude and it was beginning to wear on me and I kept asking Jarrod if we could do something for that weekend. He kept telling me no although he knew everything was already taken care of. Friday after we got off of work, we drove over to Odessa and stayed in a nice hotel and he had already set up for me to receive a massage later that evening. It was nice to get away and enjoy some us time in a nice quiet hotel. The next morning we were able to get up and do some running (which is always easier without having to get a toddler in and out the car), then headed to Andrews to pick up Carley and Jersey. We were greeted at the door with smiles (mostly by Mom and Dad with thoughts of..."no wonder why you wanted to get away"). Everyone survived and I feel refreshed and much more able to be a Mom without feeling quite so stressed out. Thank you dear for your thoughtfulness!!!

Sunday night we were able to go to another Rockhounds game. It was Rocky's 5th birthday and we all got to celebrate. Talked to our small group and we all decided to meet up there instead of at a house this week, so we got to see Rocky and Juice (both Rockhound's mascots), Permian Mojo, Midland High Bulldog, Bowie Horned Frog, Sonic (it was a cup...not sure the name), H-E-B grocery sack, Church's chicken, SportsClip man, and a couple of other mascots were all at the game. Carley gave a few of them high-five and when she saw a few others she tried climbing up my leg to get away from them. So much fun to enjoy the game with a few extra friends (small group and mascots alike). I will post pictures of them eventually.

I would also like to say...Carley will drink soy by itself now!!! Praise God!!! When you first become a parent, and you choose not to breast feed until the child can go straight to milk...formula gets expensive. Because of Carley's food allergies we ended up on the most expensive can of formula for about 14 months and we are now doing the no more forumula dance all over our house. With Carley unable to drink milk our pediatrician has suggested feeding her collard greens (don't like them and don't know how to spell it) and fish sticks to replinish some of the nutrients that whole cows milk would give her. She is enjoying the fish sticks but we have not even tried the collard greens.

I hope everyone is doing well...lots of love!

Random Pictures 2 of 2

Here are the remaining pictures that I have to download...enjoy!

Here is Juice the Moose (one of the Rockhound's mascots). We tried to go down to get a picture of Juice and Carley but he was back to entertaining the crowd by the time we got down there.

Looking cool in the sunglasses.

We took Jarrod's parents with us to a Rockhounds game for some much needed relaxation while watching our local baseball team.

Jarrod's parents came into town to help build an awning over our patio. It turned out very nice and it is so relaxing to go out and sit on the back patio (in the shade) now! THANK YOU both for your help.

Daddy's little girl found one of our Cabela's magazines and decided to take a break and look through the gun section. Jarrod was such a proud Dad when we realize what she was doing.

Relaxing after watching some sparklers and smoke bombs at Nene and Popaw's house.

She wanted to hold the sparklers by herself.

Watching Mom with the sparklers.

Our annual 4th of July picture in our shirts. (Daddy was in Alabama visiting with family...we missed him but was glad that he got to go.)

Carley apparently decided that Jersey's kennel would be a good resting place. Jersey bolted as soon as she realized what was happening.

God sent us rain on the 4th of July, a couple of hours before the fireworks were supposed to happen. I think he was trying to protect people's property from not catching on fire.

Riding the tractor with Popaw. I remember Kaytlin and Madison both getting the biggest joy out of riding Popaw's tractor with him...now Carley is getting the same joy.

Random Pictures 1 of 2

Here are a few random pictures to enjoy. I realize it has been a long time so that is why there are so many. Fixing to post some more too.

These pictures are going to be backwards...I always forget they go bottom to top. Anyway, back in June we went to Ruidoso for a family reunion on my side. Thoroughly enjoyed seeing everyone.

This was the second time at the duck pond...first time was an unexpected stop so I didn't have the camera...this time I was more prepared. I love this picture!!! :)

Typically when it rains here it is during the middle of the night. On this particular day it had just finished raining, but still still running off the roof, and Carley wanted outside. We let her go and she seemed to enjoy her time out there. She ended up sitting down and playing in the flower bed over the railing that we have up around it.

Carley loves bubbles! We were at a wedding and the flower girls had already passed out the bubbles but the bride and groom had not left yet so Carley plopped down and we blew bubbles while we waited.

I love this picture because I think she looks so much like me here.

Nene helped us on this pony tail...we are getting ready to go to a Rockhounds game.

Here is the first time we attempted to put Carley's hair in pig tails. We didn't have very good luck as you can tell.

Updates in all areas

I was going to sign into the blog today to let everyone know Carley's stats from her 15 month appointment but I have just drawn a blank so I will let you know all the other updates...

I do know that they weighed her in at 20 pounds but I do not think that is correct. I had just weighed her a day or 2 before that and she weighed closer to 22 pounds. I know, 2 pound different, get over it, but at this age 2 pounds can make a big difference.

She is allergic to milk and HATES soy!!! We have given her small drinks of soy but then she will throw down her cup and not have anything to do with another one for several hours. If we can't get more dairy allergies figured out by 18 months then we are going to try to go see a pediatric allergen specialist to see about a solution.

The pediatrician also told us to cut out the sippy cups and to get her drinking from a regular cup. Umm, does he know we just got her on the sippy cup? We were at home that evening and she did have some fun drinking some water out of my cup but she and the floor ended up more wet than her mouth. So cute to watch (and she knew it was funny so it was that much cuter) and so much fun to have us all 3 laughing. Not going to be using a cup on our own for a while though.

She currently has 8 front teeth, 1 molar completely in, and 3 that finally broke skin yesterday and you can officially feel the teeth. It hasn't been all the pleasant around our house lately while she has been getting her new teeth. Ugg...almost over!!!

Got a call from the daycare today and she has a fever. Now we have her home for the day with Gamma and Gampa (Jarrod's parents) till she gets better. I'm so tired of these fevers...they spoil all the fun and you can't do anything with them.

Anyhow, that is our latest update. We have family in town so I'm not sure pictures will get downloaded this weekend like I'm hoping, but I'm going to do my best.

Love to you all!

15 months old

Carley was officially 15 months old yesterday. Here are 15 things that I love about her or that she can now do...
1. she has a precious laugh
2. the smirk she has when she first wakes up to realize you are there for her
3. she is drinking out of a sippy cup
4. she has a forward facing car seat
5. she blows kisses (sometimes when we ask her to)
6. she waves hi and bye
7. she smiles more than she cries
8. we can now just lay her in the crib at bedtime and she will go to sleep on her own
9. her cute curls on the back of her head (like her Mom has & Dad had when he was younger)
10. the red tint that she has in her hair
11. the face that she makes when she wants to love but really hits you
12. the way she follows the older kids and tries to do what they do
13. the way she will climb into our rocking chair and sit there like a big girl
14. she can make a bad day turn around within just the thought of knowing she is around
15. she is our precious angel that God blessed us with!!!

"What is my business"

I had a funny moment yesterday and I chuckled until I got to thinking...my day is coming sooner than I think. Yesterday after Jarrod and I got off of work we went to the daycare to pick up Carley. When we arrived I decided that I needed to go to the restroom so I went there while Jarrod went and got Carley.

When I initially walked in I realize there is a parent with a child in one stall with the other stall open, so I go in...
little boy's voice from next stall..."Mommy, who is in here"
Mom..."It is none our your business"
Little boy's voice..."Mommy, what is my business" (at this point I'm waiting for some little eyes to look from underneath the stall to see who I was)
Mom..."your business is right here"

When typing out a conversation you can't really add the little boy's drawn out words and just his curiousity of who might be in the stall next to him and his Mom's conversation after that to get him to change the subject and think about something else. I realize my moment is coming only Carley will probably be the one that would climb under the stall to figure who is in there.

Just a random conversation that I appreciated. I will try to get our pictures downloaded from the 4th for everyone to see.

Getting bigger

Our little girl is growing bigger and bigger every day! Today is her first day in a new class at daycare. She is getting moved up with two other children, one little boy that we have seen since he was a baby (I think him and Carley are about a week or 2 apart). This is the first classroom that will start getting the kids on more of a schedule. She will now go to the cafeteria for breakfast, lunch, and snack and sit in a high chair surrounded by big kids. She will also get to ride around the church in a buggy for their buggy ride, take a nap at a specific time, and all kinds of neat things. This is going to be a day that I wish she was already talking so that she could tell me all about her day this afternoon. The teachers have warned us that the kids aren't used to this so she could be a bit cranky since it is something totally different but this will help in all her other classes so we are excited.

Multiple Pictures Act...

On the left: Little Miss with pig tails in her hair for the first time ever! It was so cute but she looks so much older.

On the right:

Chillin' with Daddy the time she was sick for nearly 2 weeks straight with all kinds of different symptoms.

We had some friends over one evening and Lindsey decided to relax in the floor and Carley decided she might make a good chair so she just sat right down on her. That it was so cute I got the camera out.

As most of you know, this post looks a bit goofy. Someone please help...I have my cursor for pictures to insert below the previous one but they all post at the very top. What is going on? Anyways, I will figure all this out one day.

Hello...

Just trying to figure out how all of this works. Hope you enjoy the first "real" post. I have done posts and pictures before but nothing fancy like some of you can do.

Just learning...

I am learning how to work this before I send out the e-mail stating it is up and working. Have a good week, talk to 'ya later as I try to do different stuff.