The gift that keeps on giving...

It's been a rather busy week in our family. Let's recap. And for the fun of it, let's go backwards.

First things first. It's always good to start off with a picture of the baby. This is her Thinker pose. She does this alot when she's sleeping. Smacks of Puddin' doesn't it?

In other baby news, we have slept through the night TWO nights in a row. Praise Jesus! Not sure if this will be a common occurance but for as long as it lasts, we will be grateful!

So Sunday...Father's Day...our first. Chris told me not to get him anything. And I didn't buy him a single thing. Instead, I got him Mr. Pack. The Pack's spent last week on Cruise #24 for the year. On their way back home, they came to visit us. I figured Chris could use some "man time". I managed to keep it a surprise until Sunday morning. I jumped on the bed to wake him up (yes, I am a morning person. Why do you ask?).

Wanna know what I got you for Father's Day?

(Moan) Sure.

I got you a Mr. Pack!

(Grunt/laugh) What?

I got you a Mr. Pack! The Pack's are coming over today. I got you some "Man Time"!

(Real laugh) No wonder you were cleaning the house yesterday.

(Eye roll) Whatever. Do you want to hear the rest or do you want to make fun of me for being passionate about cleanliness?

Continue.

Okay then. I'm making turkey and dressing. And because I am awesome, I'm making Chocolate Delight too. You're welcome!

(Yawn.) Ah, thanks babe!

(Begin baragage of questions regarding Mr. Pack, his golf clubs and their ETA. To all of which I replied, I don't know. Because I didn't. Fanny and I didn't invest hours in to planning this. It was more like Hey, you wanna stop by on your way home? Yeah, cool. Great! See you then! Planning is our forte.)

The Pack's made it here in record time claiming not to have broken the speed of light in doing so. We chatted. Heard the latest insane person story and then the guys left for golf. In the 112 degree Texas heat. Fanny and I stayed indoors like normal people and cooed at the baby.

Honestly, we almost feel asleep. She exhausted from the sea-sickness and crazy people and me exhausted from taking AK to the nursery for the first time Sunday morning. I mean, I dealt. No tears. Nothing overly dramatic. But I was more than a little on edge for the entire 90 minutes. Baby, of course, was oblivious. We picked her up sound asleep.

That was Sunday. Thanks Packs for coming! Can't wait to see you again...maybe after a nap or 40. Then we can do some serious analyzing.

Alright so before that was Saturday and apart from me doing REGULAR chores (not super-massive cleaning like Chris would have you believe), there's not much to share there.

However, we spent Wednesday through Friday in OKC. Chris needed to get some work done on his dissertation (aka "the darn paper") and there was no way I was A) staying here by myself with the baby or B) skipping the opportunity to see some friends or C) missing the 5:00 pm Pride of OK pre-game show on the radio (still love that). So we loaded up the car with all of AK's equipment, packed the biggest suitcase ever with twenty outfits a day for baby and headed up the road.

We left our house at about 8:30 am. And we made it all the way to Martin HS, about 30 ninutes up the road, before we had to pull over. In our defense, our goal had been to make it out of the general metroplex area before we had to stop but the interstate was a parking lot. I'd like to say there was probably a wreck somewhere but more likely there was a car pulled over on the side of the road and everyone slowed down to stare at it. Anyway, we had to get off and take the roads through the city to get out of town. That took longer and thus baby needed to be fed.

Overall, AK did well on the trip. She was definitely off her schedule. Fussy time was longer and much fussier. But she did sleep in the pack n'play each night.

The first night we stayed in a hotel.

The second, we stayed with the Director and First Lady of the Pride. They have a little one. Four year old Pridette. She is amazing. I have lots of pictures of that little one! She was such a good helper. Reminded me so much of myself at that age. I always loved being with the babies. She wanted to play and kiss AK and help feed her. She heard the baby crying the next morning and got right up with me. We had some good time together for about an hour. Aren't they the cutest little family?

I loved being in their home Friday morning. They have the kind of home I would want if I were a full time mom. No TV. A schedule. Chores being done. Play time. Nap time. And some shopping. Pridette made her bed, put away her laundry and helped Mom clean the kitchen. Mom had a little stair step stool and Pridette would use it to get into her dresser drawers and up to the stove to wipe it down. Warms my heart to see little ones learning to help keep the house. '

After that, we met Linda for lunch. Thank you all for your prayers. The situation turned from grim to a miracle! There's still a long way to go but we'll take the miracles one day at a time. Anyway, we went up to the lake to eat lunch. Mexican. I think I ate my weight in chips and salsa. Then we went to her house to feed the baby and play. AK was a doll. She just smiled and played.

I think Linda took 52 pictures of her. She was pretty cute. She wore her red dress from her newborn photo shoot. One lady asked me if she was getting 4th of July pictures and I said no, we're just in a dress today. And she said well, I guess any day is a good day for a red dress. Exactly.

Before OKC, we spent time with Mrs. JT. She and Dr. JT are AK's godparents. Besides the fact that she's my dearest friend and my oldest friend (honestly, I don't remember not knowing her), I also know that should something happen to Chris and me, they would raise her like we would. They love Jesus. They love Auburn. They love family. You can't ask for more. Without a doubt, Aubrey Kate will be blessed beyond belief to have them in her life. I love spending time with her. And I know my daughter will too!

This week is another busy week! Aunt Meredith is coming for her first visit. We've got church stuff and baby shower stuff and maybe a date thrown in there. I'll end with a picture I took yesterday. I was loading the car with stuff for the baby shower this weekend so I put AK in the chair to wait for me. She just looked so chill hanging out, I had to take a picture.