Turncoats

My husband and I moved to St. Louis in late September/early October. Just in time for the World Series!! Because we lived in Oklahoma, we didn't have a a cool, Major League team to cheer for (no offense to the OKC Redhawks) so we were Rangers fans. We temporarily forgot our allegiance, though.

I blame the overwhelming and contagious zeal of Cardinal Nation. It was truly intoxicating. Anyone wearing Cardinal colors received high-fives, hand-shakes and hugs from total strangers. Everyone loves each other in Cardinal Nation. However, after we left the World Series and the euphoria of the event wasn't surrounding us, we felt instant remorse for our traitorous behaviour and cheered for the Rangers for the rest of the World Series. Phew! Glad I got that off my chest.

Besides this being my first time to be at a World Series game (and only my 2nd time at a professional baseball game), it was also my first time to eat a philly cheese steak sandwich.

I'm completely serious.

Those of you who have known about philly cheese steak sandwich awesomeness for years must be reading this completely agog. I myself don't understand how I haven't had one before, as I'm something of a food junkie. 

After my first bite of cheesy, oniony goodness I felt my eyes roll back into my head and an involuntary groan of satisfaction rumble up my throat. Yes, it was that good. So, if anyone is reading this and has not tried one, please listen to me. Go and get one immediately. Don't spend another day on this planet without having tried one. 

 Anyways! Back to the World Series! It was SO much fun! I'm not even a big sports nut but I truly had a great time. The fans we sat with were hilarious and friendly and the atmosphere was incredible! Here are a few more pictures from the evening.

Walking up to the Stadium

Josh Hamilton- he's a pretty cool guy.

Isn't this pretty?

A glimpse of Cardinal Nation.

Just another example of the Angry Birds phenomenon.

Leaving the stadium.

All in all a great evening! Hopefully a Rams game is next! (;



We've moved!!

About a month ago, we moved to St. Louis, MO! My husband accepted a job working as an assistant head wrestling coach at Missouri Baptist University. It was a quick move and verrryy stressful because the university wanted Colby there ASAP. As a result, we moved within 10 days of making our decision to accept the position. IT. WAS. CRAZY. Boxes everywhere, keeping the baby out of stuff...not to mention the quick, 3 day trip to St. Louis to house hunt! But, with some help from family, we made another move.

In St. Louis, we get to enjoy options again! We didn't have that in small-town, McAlester, Oklahoma. Now we have shopping options, restaurant options, and plenty of entertainment options.

 Plus, we get to see things like this:

The Arch

Union Station

Cardinal Games!





Now we just need to make new friends, find another church...*sigh*

I've moved about 8 times but making friends is always rough at first. Especially in our current situation. I had to resign from my teaching job so we could move here and I have not found employment yet. I'm not trying either. I love being home with Makaylee. However, having a place to go to work is a great way to meet people. I'm not sure how I'm going to go about it without a church home or a work place to go to. Oh well. If you stay any where long enough it becomes home to you. I didn't realize how attached I was to McAlester, OK or the friends I had made there until we had to leave. I'm sure the same will happen here, just like everywhere else I've lived. Especially if I remember that "Wherever you go, there you are."

Warrior Dash

My stud-muffin husband recently competed in the Warrior Dash. He ran the one that was in Tulsa. If you don't know what the Warrior Dash is, it is an organized event that happens across the globe. The people who orchestrate it try and pick the roughest terrain they can find wherever it is located, whether it's Texas or Ireland. When you run the course you have to run hills, pull yourself over a wall, army crawl under barb-wire, swim through a mud pit, leap over fire, etc. Typical marathon stuff. My husband ran with the McAlester high school head wrestling coach he worked for and a few of the guys from the team. They finished it in record time and I was so proud of them! Especially my hubby of course.

This is close to the finish! He had just crawled under barbed wire through a mud pit.

First leap over fire! Nice shot of his muscly back, too. (;

My stud-muffin husband and some of the high school wrestlers he coached.

Yay!! Everyone is done!! Say, who is that attractive guy in the back row, 2nd from the left? Oh yeah, that's my stud husband.

OK, I'm done with my tacky jokes. For now.

So proud of my husband! If you're interested in the Warrior Dash, check it out! It may be coming to a location near you!

http://warriordash.com/info.php

1st Experiences

My daughter is 8 months old now and has had many "firsts" since she came into the world. I have been MIA from the blogging community, so that means I will be playing catchup with the many pictures I have been taking between my last post and now. Well, maybe just a little bit of "catch-up". Completely catching up is too daunting. This post of Makaylee's first experiences will help narrow the gap a bit so I can move on with what's happening now. So, without further ado, here are some of Makaylee's "firsts".

This was the first time I put a bow on her head. She was 2 days old.

First time on a lawn mower. She was four days old. You should know that the mower was off when we took this picture. (:

First time she wore sunglasses AND the first time we took her for a walk in her stroller.

This was the first time she went swimming. I knew my Mother-in-law and husband wouldn't drop her, but my heart was in my throat nonetheless. She loved it!

The following pictures are from our first 4th of July together.

 

This is my husbands father. Like the rest of the men in the family, he is wrapped around that little girls finger.

Makaylee and I watching the fireworks. She was wide-eyed!

This is Makaylee's Uncle Chad. All of her uncles are super sweet to her and I love to watch them interact with her.

Sweet pic, huh? This is one of my many favorites.



This will have to be a "to be continued". As Makaylee has more 1st's I'll be sure to share them. 

NEW CAMERA!

My birthday was in April and I got an AWESOME new camera to better document the daily life of my family (namely Makaylee). It's a Canon Powershot SX130 IS. Couldn't tell you what that means but the camera takes beautiful pictures.

This is me on my birthday standing in my wonderful, state of the art kitchen (ha). If you look to the left of the car seat you can kinda see my camera on the box. I'm pretty excited about it. Did I mention it takes beautiful pictures?

Like this one. This is a rose that bloomed on Easter Sunday, making me very happy.

And this one. A butterfly on my pansies.

That's right, Mr. Butterfly, enjoy my pansies for I planted them just for you.

What's this? More local wildlife hiding under our trailer!

Our dachsund Rocky was very curious. I think this was his first encounter with a turtle.

I tried to see if it was a swimming turtle and plopped it into my pool where the steps are. This was good since the turtle sunk like a rock and I didn't have to reach in very far to save him.

                                                                       Safe on land!!

                                       Can turtles look disgruntled and annoyed? I think so.

And now a parting shot of Makaylee, which has nothing to do with the naturistic (is that a word?) theme of this blog entry so far. Hey, it's my blog and I can do what I want with it.

                                                                            So there.

Introducing...MAKAYLEE GRACE!!!

We were still at the hospital when I took this picture. We were waiting to be released and this was a rare moment when she had her eyes open.

Sorry if anyone has been anxiously waiting to see pics of the newest member of our family. (I doubt you have since most anyone who would be reading this blog is also my friend on facebook.) Because I am at home for 6 weeks I thought there would be OODLES of time for blogging and facebooking cute pictures of my new daughter-HO HO that's a good one.

When I am not breastfeeding I am sleeping. When I am not sleeping I am attempting to still be a good wifey and manage to get in some household chore before my husband gets home, AND make dinner (how 1950's do I sound??). When I am not being industrious I am breastfeeding...AGAIN.

I seriously underestimated the breastfeeding thing. I am still all for it as it offers so many benefits for mother and child but it has been a daunting task. Not only does it hurt, but it feels like I am doing it every 20 minutes. I know that I am really doing it every 2 hours or so, but that's not what it feels like! Thank goodness it also happens to be one of the sweetest experiences I have ever had in life, otherwise I might be tempted to give it up like so many others do.

Anyway, I know you are probably more interested in pictures of Makaylee than my thoughts on breastfeeding so I'll get on with it.

Shortly after she was born. Love at first sight for Daddy.

He had been waiting for this for nine months.

Mommy and daughter.

I just LOVE this picture. How adorable can one child be? In this picture we had laid blankets in her car seat and put her by the windowsill in her room. She had a small case of jaundice and we were instructed to keep her in as much indirect sunlight as possible. This is her "womb" position, everyone. Every time we had an ultrasound or tried to do that 3d/4d image she had her legs like this and her little hands by her face. So cute!

This is the first time I put a hair accessory on her. I love that the pacifier takes up half her face. She's my teeny little girl!

That will have to be all for now. Makaylee is waking up and I am positive she will want to eat immediately. *sigh* Hasn't it only been 30 minutes??



Hospital Jitters

Well today's the big day. I am sitting in my hospital room blogging. The best part of having a baby in this day and age are the many technological devices available for you to entertain yourself. For example, obviously I am on a computer. We also have an ipod port if we choose to play our favorite tunes. There is a dvd player and tv which we are watching "The Incredibles" on. (We love Disney movies!) I feel very fortunate. Our (me and Colby's) mom's had to sit and watch the clock for hours with little to distract them from their anxiety or their contractions.

But let's back up a little bit. On Tuesday night me and Colby drove in to Tulsa from our home in McAlester because I preferred to be in Tulsa to deliver our baby. (There are quite a few shady stories circulating about the hospital in McAlester.) On the drive to Tulsa as we were talking I told Colby something that had just occurred to me: I've never had to be admitted to a hospital before. Never laid in a hospital bed, never had an iv, etc. And in one day, I will be experiencing all that and more. It was then that I started to feel a little anxiety for the first time in 9 months. On Wednesday this anxiety grew most of the day and peaked last night as reality set in. It was so strange to think that in the morning I would be heading to the hospital to have a baby, that I would be adding the title of "mother" to sister, daughter and wife.

As I sit here though, after having my water broken (which was extremely weird and a tad invasive-guess I'll have to get used to invasiveness) and an IV in my arm I am feeling much calmer. I guess once something you were worried about actually becomes your reality you simply adapt. My contractions are getting stronger but instead of becoming filled with fear about what's to come I am actually filled with peace. I give credit to my wonderful supportive husband sitting beside me, my family members and their endless encouragement, the prayers offered up by friends and family alike, and of course, the peace given to me from my Heavenly Father. No one can have this baby but me, and God has specially designed me to do it.

That's all for now. My next post will include pictures of our new daughter, Makaylee Grace Robinson.

Prayers from Kiddo's

This past Sunday afternoon Colby and I had our first baby shower at

our church. It has been a part of the announcements in church

services for several weeks now. We have a friend who teaches the

4 and 5 year olds Sunday school class and she is always telling us

cute little stories about what the kids say and do. This past Sunday

she ended her class the way she always does, by going around the

table and letting the children who wanted to pray out loud do so.

She sent us an email later detailing the kids prayers which were

apparently dedicated to me, Colby and our baby. I guess the baby

shower was on their minds because this is what they prayed:

The 1st little girl prayed " God, when the baby comes out please don't let it be one of those little bitty babies, let it be big enough to play".

Awww so sweet....

That was followed by a boy praying, "God, please don't let the baby girl look like Colby, Emily is prettier."

How true.

Finally, another little girl prayed,"Lord, the baby has no toys, please let it get more toys than Walmart."

.....hmmm, wouldn't that be something? Hopefully the grandparents will be able to control themselves and not overwhelm our home with baby and toddler toys.

Aren't these prayers precious? Children have such a unique relationship with

 their Lord. They are endlessly trusting. No concern is too small or trivial for

them to voice.

I hope everyone got as much enjoyment out of these prayers as I did!

Wherever you go, there you are....what's that mean???

This phrase has very special meaning to me, which is why I chose it to be a title for this blog.
My dad would always say this to me when I was growing up, but as a child I had no idea what he meant by this statement. In fact, it wasn’t until I was an adult and in college that I understood the true meaning.

So often people leave home or move to different places, cities, colleges etc. in an effort to escape a certain situation or *shudder* "find themselves" (I HATE that saying).

 You yourself are not a different person after moving to a different environment. This is what my dad meant when he said this to me. He would always repeat it whenever we moved to a different city or when I would start at a new school. I also remember him saying it when I went away to college. It would seem that he wanted me to remember that none of us can escape ourselves. Granted, there are some situations you must remove yourself from to protect yourself or your family. However, it is important to remember that you carry with you the same strengths, weaknesses and character flaws you had in your previous setting. It's better to face your demons and conquer them instead of trying to outrun them.

I think a major problem in our society is a chronic unwillingness to face our flaws or consider how we can better ourselves. Don't you love it when people say, "Well, you know, that's just the way I am,".What a copout excuse to remain the same. I'm not saying it's easy to confront or admit your faults, but it would make life so much easier, wouldn't it?

Anyway, that’s enough rambling from me. I promise I will try to avoid using this blog as my own personal soapbox.

One giant step for...me.

After much deliberation and tossing and turning at night, (yes, I'm that dramatic) I decided it was about time I joined the world of bloggers. I am not that enthusiastic about it as I don't consider myself to be a true writer. You may wonder what that has to do with keeping up a blog, but I believe that really good bloggers are also really good writers. They have things to say and they express themselves well. I have trouble with this. I have probably been given a dozen journals in my lifetime and NEVER managed to write in them more than 5 times each. Needless to say, it will be hard for me to have a consistent stream of thoughts or stories on a blog, but I have had several requests from family members and friends to create one so they can keep up with me and my husband. I think the fact that I am 8 months pregnant with our first child may have something to do with this. Not to mention that about 10 months ago we moved to a city where we have no family around us. SO...friends and family, this blog is for you!!! I hope you enjoy it.