126

This is the number of days since I've slept for at least 6 consecutive hours. And I've only had a handful of 5 hour stretches of sleep. But now I think we've turned a corner. For the last month, Ty's been waking up roughly every hour and a half at night. Not to eat, but just kind of to say what's up. Two nights ago we let Ty "cry it out" (which took a whopping 12 minutes for him to fall asleep). He woke up a few times that night but went longer before he had to eat. Last night he slept straight until nearly 6:00 this morning. I would have slept straight until then too, but I woke up around 4:00 in a slight panic that he hadn't woken up to eat yet. So I guess that shorter sleep was my fault.

But tonight I'm ready to break the streak.

Now that I've posted this for all of the blogosphere to see (or at least my 4 readers), I'm sure he'll start waking up again. But here's hoping that tonight I can get at least 6 hours. I'll let you know how it goes.

Cousins

This weekend was lots of fun for us. Sally and Bennett came in town with Mac, and Peter (Dean's cousin) and Kim (his wife) and Emily (Peter's sister) came in from Charlottesville with Peter and Kim's kids Jonathan and Susie. Jonathan will be 2 in November and this is the second time we've seen him. Susie is just a few weeks older than Ty and so this was our first time getting to meet her. They all stayed with Dean's parents and I think his mom was in her glory with 8 visitors (including three kids under the age of two) spending two nights. The primary purpose of the trip was to celebrate Mama's birthday. This was the first time she's been able to meet Susie and have all five of her great grandkids together. It was quite the event. Our friend Ellen took pictures, here are some highlights.









By this point, Tommy had enough and he only got in the picture because we threatened to take Sarah the Puppy. Cruel? Probably. But at least he was in the picture.

Dorsi

I figure I blog about my kids enough but there's one member of our family who doesn't get much love. Dorsi. My 85 pound yellow lab. Today she had a visit to the vet to have a very quick, but unpleasant procedure performed. I'll spare you the details. This poor dog gets so excited about a car trip, it's the highlight of her month (if it's even that often). I had to take Ty with me, so I figured it would be interesting. Getting in the car was no problem. I opened Ty's door to get him in and she jumped in first and immediately sat in Tommy's booster seat, all ready to go. I put Ty in next to her and hoped she wouldn't crush him when she got all excited upon realizing that we were going to the vet. She was a good girl and didn't crush him, but put both front paws on the middle console and was immediately thrust into the front seat when I saw that the person in front of me had stopped suddenly so I had to slam on my breaks. All 85 pounds of her catapulted into the dash. So she rode the rest of the way in the passenger seat.

Getting out of the car was another story altogether. It took me three attempts before I could get out without her dashing out around me. I had to slam the door in her face and quickly take Ty out so I could bring Dorsi out as well. This took careful planning and an iron will on my part. But after about 4 or 5 minutes we were out of the car. Thankfully we were the only ones in the waiting room so there was no drama. After they did the procedure, our exit was as dramatic as our entrance, if not more so. She was angry that I had subjected her to such humiliation and was just ready to get back in the car. A vet tech had to help. I got both of them in and we headed home. I got Ty out first and put him on the ground in front of the car (he was in his car seat). She immediately ran out and jumped over him, barely clearing the carrier. Our adventure was over and now she's exhausted, and probably will be for the next few days.

Ty slept through the whole thing.

Little Football Fan

Tommy's really getting into football this season. But while he will watch football for a short time on television, he's not just satisfied with the x's and o's. He wants the whole experience. In the mornings when Dean gets up, Tommy brings him into his room and has him play football with his animals and wrestlers. This morning they were the Leon Lions. Tommy immediately set up the players (he knows the quarterback is on offense and is in charge of the ball), and then went on to set up the band, the mascots, and the cheerleaders. And yes, he even had the cheerleaders do a stunt.




Yesterday afternoon, he and Dean ventured to Doak Campbell Stadium for the FSU game. A family from our church had graciously given us their season tickets for this week because they couldn't come to the game. The seats were on the second row on the goal line, so Tommy got to see all the action up close. He loved Chief Osceola and the band, and was so excited to see the team run out on the field. He sang the Florida State fight song with the rest of the fans and didn't miss a beat when they finished with "F-L-O-R-I-D-A S-T-A-T-E, Florida State, Florida State, Florida State! Whoo!" But at 3:50 I got a call from Dean saying they were already on their way out of the stadium. The game had started at 3:30. Tommy decided it was too loud. Oh well, maybe next time they'll make it through the first quarter.

Leadership

I want to take a moment to brag about Dean. He mentioned this in his blog, but I wanted to give him a little love as well. A few months ago, he came home and said, "Guess what? I've apparently been nominated and chosen as a finalist for a leadership award through Leadership Tallahassee." My first thought was "How nice. That sounds so sweet." I had no clue what exactly that meant. Even when we received the invitation in the mail to the banquet honoring the finalists, I still didn't get it.

On Thursday night, we went to the nicest event that I've been to at the University Club. There were hundreds of people and a total of 17 honorees in 5 categories. Dean was nominated for the Pacesetter award, which is given to a young leader in town who is doing something no one else is doing and "taking Tallahassee by storm".

While he didn't win the award, I was just bursting with pride for him. It was a huge honor to be included in this list. He was the only nominee in any category who didn't have a huge long list of accolades and accomplishments. But there's no question in my mind that his qualifications for this award are by far the most meaningful. They extend into eternity.

Oh, and I got a really nice night out because of it. There was an absolutely delicious salad of tomato slices, fried green tomato slices, a smearing of goat cheese, and a bacon slice layered on top of each other (I ate mine and Dean's). Dinner was a very good filet with mashed potatoes, prosciutto wrapped shrimp, and asparagus. And dessert was oh so tasty: a really yummy chocolate mousse cake with a ganache topping. Yum!

Moving

I love my church. We started it from scratch just over three years ago and since then we've been in no less than 7 locations. We're completely portable, but a portable church is not as simple as, say, a portable phone. But every week we have had incredible, dedicated individuals who love Jesus and believe in the way that we are sharing the gospel help to set up and tear down. For over three years.

This Sunday marked the first time that we are officially no longer portable. We finally have a place we can call our home! And it's taken hundreds of volunteers giving thousands of hours and dollars (still need about $40,000 more if you care to share!) but it came together this week. As I drove up with the boys in tow, I got choked up and a bit misty when I saw the welcoming/parking lot crew in their bright garnet and gold t-shirts directing traffic and creating a great first impression. Actually I started getting choked up when I had to slow down about a block before I got to the warehouse because the cars in my lane were all turning in (no, it's not a turning lane). The Well Kids building looked incredible and walking in, I knew Tommy would love it. I dropped Ty off in his adorable butterfly-decorated baby room and hung his diaper bag on the hook with a cute little polka dot bib attached. I got into the auditorium about 5 minutes before the service started and realized that if I were late as I usually am, I may not get a seat.

The band was great, there was an awesome vibe in the room. And Dean's sermon was excellent. The point was very clear: If we are not 100% about Jesus, then we are not about anything at all. I'm so proud to call him my pastor and even more proud to call him my husband. I absolutely love him.

And I love my church.

The Pledge

Tommy has been learning the Pledge of Allegiance at school and today he proudly recited it for us:

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.
And to the republic for which it stands,
On earth as it is in heaven.
With liberty and justice for all."

Apparently he's learning The Lord's Prayer as well.