WONDERFUL WEEKENDS!

Friday was hectic! But, Grace Anne made a BIG STEP! Literally.. she took her first TWO steps!

But, Friday night we went to pick up seafood (stuffed crab.. shrimp.. onion rings.. yum) and took it to the beach. We had out fancy new beach chairs (thanks to Target FINALLY marking something down beyond 30%) and the family.. What else did we need! The beach was practically empty so we pulled right up, parked in the sand and ate dinner under... the ... seagulls (the only glitch in the plan). Grace Anne, our fish out of water, loved it and insisted on crawling straight into the roaring waves! We had fun!

So maybe you have noticed...
it's been over a week!

For a moment in time I thought I might be bored in TEXAS... well I'm not. I can't say every minute has been a blast.. but I've been busy and I'm tired... and typically when my eyes are open so are Grace Anne's. The naps have not increased by any means and the nights have been rather choppy!

But, we have been meeting new friends. This week we went to a Book Exchange Brunch... Grace Anne loved playing with the kiddies and even got to play on her friend Westin's rocking horse! Plus, we got some yummy treats for "brunch"-- like french toast casserole with Texas Pecans!! MMmmmm

We are looking forward to Aquarium time and "Park Walking" this week! Oh and Mommy has to get her TX Licenses since the TN one expires next week! Texas requires much more than TN for getting registered and getting a licenses! Friday I spent 5 hours getting things ready and finally getting my tags. I don't think it really had to be that difficult-- I just received poor communication and had a lack of information!

TEXAS UPDATE...

We have been in Texas for nearly a month... can you believe it? We are learning so much and enjoying our new cultural experiences! Please allow me to enlighten you. To begin with... I love the grocery. The grocery stores consist of Sun Harvest Market, Wal-Mart, and HEB (pronounced H-E-B... but the locals say the E so fast I think they sound like they are saying H-B). Sun Harvest has A-M-A-Zing produce... like pineapples for $1.50... cantaloupes for 50 cents.. watermelons for $2.75. and apples for 88 cents a pound... Oh and they have really yummy muffins! But for hardcore grocery shopping.. HEB wins the cake! I love HEB! Now, you are asking how this relates to being a cultural experience... I'm about to fill you in... HEB is packed with Hispanic foods. There is a tortilla press/maker right there in the bakery of the store...how authentic is that? I really enjoy seeing all the stuff in HEB.. my Mom and Granny would be so proud (both of them believed that a vacation wasn't complete until you checked out the local grocery)


Now, on the down side... My only real complaint about Texas is the Target.. it stinks. The ones in San Antonio are much better, but I'm unable to visit them on markdown day.. which is basically what I live for ya know? I met a nice lady in the Corpus Christi Target and she told me there was a Target in Victoria, TX (which isn't nearly as quaint, cute, and pretty as one might think). This lady was super nice and turns out she knew about the markdown days and had been disappointed in this Target for the past 2 years...(the amount of time she has lived here!). Ironically enough, she was from Memphis and had a daughter at UTK! Small world!

Finally, Monday we decided that we would tag along with Daddy to his furthest store. I really wanted to go to Target and a few baby stores. We dropped Daddyo off at his store and we headed to Target.. and actually found a couple deals... I noticed several mosquitos and brushed it off. We walked over to Ross and noticed the sidewalk was covered in cockroaches. They didn't stay on the sidewalk either.. they were all in the light fixtures, crawling across the floor... hundreds of them! It was absolutely disgusting! The employees didn't seem phased and were just sweeping them up.. alive.. and putting them in trash bags! We left and were thrilled to pick Daddy up and leave Victoria! Daddy was covered in mosquito bites and excited to hit the road as well! Targeting in Victoria will have to be postponed until the bugs leave!

As for Grace Anne... she is very active and meeting lots of new friends. We are staying very active and love it!

Can't say LIZ without

the GO-GO-GO!To no one's surprise... Corpus hasn't stopped me! Yes, we are always on the move. I promised myself that when we moved I was going to get involved.. meet new people.. and jump right into making Corpus a home. Well, we are busy already! We are now members of THREE Mommy and Me playgroups. This week our adventures included playing at the indoor playground on Tuesday morning, with Grace Anne's new friends Kylie, Conner, Hadie, Ryan, and Lindy (notice Grace Anne is about to attacked this poor baby)! Then Wednesday, we went to story time at Barnes and Noble. The Barnes and Noble here is great!! It has a huge kids sections, lots of fun educational toys, and a weekly story time! We will have Barnes and Noble giftcards on Grace Anne's birthday list for sure!!! We met more fun kiddos and some really cool moms! Tomorrow we are supposed to head to the water fountains downtown for some splash time.

During our outings Daddy was of course working... Tuesday he got a nice suprise.. the afternoon off. The weather was sorta crazy here... Tropical Storm Hermine... and the trainer that was here insisted they not work that afternoon. The winds were 60 mph Monday night and the rain was heavy, but all and all it was no big deal (we can only hope all tropical weather comes and goes so easily)... BUT, back to my point.. Daddy had the afternoon off and we made a trip to the Texas State Aquarium. It's very close to our house and we've heard great things... we loved it! I would say Grace Anne loved it.. but we all loved it. Daddy loved the huge sea turtles... Grace Anne was infatuated with the seahorses... and Mommy really liked the dolphin show. It's a pretty neat place.. so neat we are now members and will be going back as often as we like!

Today we walked about 3 miles today... we have lots of sidewalks and parks in Corpus Christi! I've got to get walking back in our routine! It's strange because it feels cooler at noon than it does at 8am since the breeze isn't blowing hard at 8am... But, as I found out today.. the sunlight it direct at noon-- so now I have a lovely red forehead! Oh well...
Trauma follow-up: Grace Anne is fine. She shows no strange signs of injury or anything unordinary after her falls. She is on the other hand traumatized by "Mean Mommy" trying to make her nap! She fights sleep so badly and spent 45 minutes in her crib screaming and jumping (on her unsafe mattress that we need to replace).... There is no denying that our child is spoiled and gets held when she wants... but oh well... we did it to ourselves and Daddy says we will hold her until she's 18 if she wants us to!

Grace Anne is a BEACH BABE...
or possibly just a fish out of water...

On Sunday we went to the beach. We went to Rockport, TX because we had heard great things about it. We figured we wouldn't go there much so we went on up there as its a further drive. We didn't like it nearly as much, it was more of a "bay-beach" and had small pebbles and rock partials. Maybe the name "ROCKport" is not by coincidence! Grace Anne of course loved the water, but we got rained out! So by the time the shower passed we were almost home and Daddy decided to go on down to Mustang island. We stayed a long time and Grace Anne had to be pulled out. She loved the water and the waves. She made a little friend, Damon. Damon was for 4 according to him and only 3 according to his Grandma. (it's funny how little kids want to be older!) But, Damon had a 7 month old sister at home and loved making Grace Anne laugh and smile. She loves little kids with little voices. He covered her toes with sand and let the waves wash her off. She got a kick out of it. Daddy of course also enjoyed the water... and the trip to the ice cream truck. We are all ready to go back and since we now have our annual driving/parking pass -- we can go whenever our hearts desire!



We actually went to the Children's Urgent Care too. Grace Anne lost her balance and fell and hit her head on the tile then 10 minutes later she was climbing Kris' leg and fell and hit her head. She started acting kinda weird and wouldn't stop whimpering. For a while we kept her awake but then when she fell asleep she went completely limp. She looked like mush. We couldn't get her to wake up so we put her in the car and rushed her to the Urgent Care. The nurse came out immediately and tried to wake her up and noticed she was limp-- with in minutes we were surrounded by 3 doctors and a handful of nurses. They called an ambulance and started connecting her to monitors. One doctor was able to get her awake, they canceled the ambulance call, but left her on the monitor. Her heart rate looked good, she was breathing the whole time and her breathing was normal. They concluded she was probably extremely tired but found it strange she was so limp. I remained calm throughout, but Daddy really took it rough, I really think he had a hard time soaking it all in. He didn't remember part of it! Poor Daddy.

They did head x-rays and they looked good (she was not a fan of the x-rays or us holding her still).. It was heart wrenching to hold her still while she cried to get away. Everytime the x-ray lady came back in the room she screamed! :( . They gave us a tylenol prescription. We of course are on Cobra for a month which makes this a costly trip because now we have to pay the $900 dues... is it worth it? ABSOLUTELY!... We may not be going on weekend getaways or vacations... or big nights out anytime soon, but we know our baby is alright and that's priceless!

IT's FOOTBALL TIME IN TENNESSEE!!

So, yes we are in TEXAS, not TENNESSEE... but we have the spirit of TN running through us! Plus, we have the ESPN game plan so we won't be missing the big win tonight. Grace Anne is ready in her ORANGE!


Oh and we are so happy Daddy is home. Plus, he is home ALL next week and has Monday off! Yay!!


Also, check out the 9 month pictures: Grace Anne- UT GARDENS