Trick-or-Treat

Happy Halloween!

The Greatest of These Is Love

Here's a sneak peak at the photos Allison took last weekend. Now I'm sure you'll be waiting in suspense for your Christmas card!

My Brown Eyed Girl

The Eyes of Texas are Upon You

Today we ventured out to enjoy the last day of the 2009 State Fair of Texas. This was the first sunny weekend we'd had in a while, so we shouldn't have been surprised to see what appeared to be at least half the population of Texas enjoying the sites, sounds, and smells of the fair as well. We wandered through the auto show and the natural history museum, spent a little time in the midway, saw some animals, enjoyed shows featuring singing and another featuring international dances, and, among being entertained in a variety of other ways, we ate (of course). We did wait in line for Fletcher's Corny Dogs instead of buying from the generic corn dog stand* with virtually no line, and it was well worth the wait. Turkey legs, fried pickles, carmel apples, and beer also made it on the menu. So worth every last calorie**.

*MN fair-goers: you've had this experience when opting to wait in the Pronto Pup line, yes?
**We opted out of tasting this year's newest fried delight: fried butter. Gross, I think. Still, as you can imagine, the lines for the treat (which comes in original, grape jelly, cherry, or garlic flavor) were long, long, long.

Midway = money well spent (ha!)

We avoided yesterday's Texas vs. OU game crowds, though there was still plenty of game-day excitement lingering in the air today.

Sara on Dad's shoulders outside of the natural history museum. She loves riding on his shoulders, but he can only take so much because she holds on to his hair for dear life ... makes for a sore head.

Sara was a total trooper at the fair. She took a short stroller nap, and was otherwise happy just looking around and riding with her feet up on the bar. We made note of the number of attractions that she'll really love by this time next year!

Shingles

Nope, not that kind. I'm talking about my medically diagnosed shingles, or herpes zoster. Lucky me. About a week ago, I started feeling sore on my right side sort of behind my ribs. I thought maybe I'd strained something or slept wrong. By Saturday, I had two large welts on my back; I made no connection between the pain and the welts, which I thought would quickly disappear. Today, after noticing that the welts had spread to my front, following along my rib cage, and realizing that they were starting to hurt, I consulted my very trustworthy school nurse. She immediately wrote down the names of some dermatologists and told me to get an appointment. When I tried to argue, she said, "Think about it spreading to Sara." I succumbed.

A nearby dermatologist was able to squeeze me in this morning, and after a quick look at my back and chest, he diagnosed me with shingles. He said the pain I was feeling last week was my body's way of telling me that the lumps were coming, the lumps were coming. I guess it all has to do with the nerves. And the fact that I had chicken pox as a kid. I'm not contagious, except to those who haven't had chicken pox or been vaccinated. You know, those like my daughter. Great. I did call the pediatrician's office, though, and they said since my shingles reside in a covered area, I really don't have to worry. Anyway, the doctor sent me on my way with a prescription and a rather hefty bill (thanks to the fact that I'd arrived sans referral from a general physician). Nothing like spending a chunk of my rainy-day money at a dermatologist's office on, well, another rainy day in DFW.

This evening while Sara and I waited for my horse-pill prescription to be filled, we ran over to Kid-to-Kid where, surprise-surprise, we found a few items to purchase. (Had I accurately estimated the price of my prescription, I probably would have decided to forego this little shopping trip. But I don't feel guilty for two reasons: 1) the items are for my sweet girl, and 2) they are all consignment, so I paid much, much less than I would have had they been purchased brand new.)

I just have to show you this fall dress I found for only $6.99. I absolutely cannot get over my complete and utter adoration of this hand-smocked masterpiece. Is it not totally adorable? I simply couldn't resist. Ah, love.

The Way It Goes

I don't have a lot of time because "The Office" begins shortly and I don't want to miss a minute of the long-awaited nuptials between Jim and Pam. But I do realize that my posts have been scarce as of late, and I feel like I at least owe you one with some words.

Sara has decided that she no longer needs help from Mom or Dad to stand ... she can do it on her own. In fact, she discovered this trick in her crib Sunday night. A while after we'd put her to bed, she began screaming. Steve went in to check on her and found her standing (prior to this incident, she'd only knelt in her crib). We've concluded that she was able to get up, but got scared when she realized she might be stuck because as soon as Steve helped her lay down and cover up, she was fast asleep. Now, a few days later, she's a real pro.
Tonight amidst her adventures, Sara managed to smack her head on the door frame leading into her room (this potential like-her-mama-lack-of-depth-perception trait doesn't bode well). By the time she made it into the tub, Sara was back to her happy self. Still, we are fairly certain she's going to wake up a little black and blue on the right side of her forehead.

Sara and I are on our own this weekend because Steve has to work. A lot. Like until 11:00 at night each day of the precious weekend a lot. While I'm thankful that Steve has a job again, I am not embarrassed to say that he doesn't get paid nearly enough to have to work at a sales-people-conference (even though he's not in sales) all weekend. Neither of us are overjoyed with this new company, which shall remain nameless, but ... it's a job. And, like most things in life, it's only for a season. For now, this is just the way it goes.

Luckily for us, there's nothing like a sweet baby girl with a bump on her head to make us forget our woes!

Life is Good

Pose,

crawl,
rest.

Play,

crawl,

rest.

Play,

reach,

rest.