Tribute to My Uncle Ron

Uncle Ron is the one in the back row on the left, the one that is nearly as handsome as my dad. He passed away early Saturday morning. I want to write a few sentences in honor of him.

I always picture him with a smile that comes easily and with a laugh that accompanies it. He would tease me when I was younger. I remember a time that he instructed me to hold my cat in front of me with one hand on each side of it. Innocently, I complied. He then grabbed my forearms and pulled apart so that I no longer had a grip on the fur, and the cat fell to the ground.

Uncle Ron did lots of wood carving. We visited him once when he was camping in his RV with Aunt Donna. They also have a gorgeous condo in Northern Michigan. We always ate well at his house because in addition to Aunt Donna's cooking there always seemed to be venison jerky. Yum!

I remember my Uncle Ron faithfully caring for his first wife, my Aunt Carole, who was often ill. He was very interested in hearing about Molly and always commented positively when he received a picture of her in the mail. He suggested that my dad "smuggle her" to Michigan so he could meet her. Molly and I were able to visit with him last week. God must have ordained it because after a long morning of travelling and missing a nap, Molly was cheerful and perfectly behaved while at their home.

Like all cancer patients, he suffered. He seemed to be positive and uncomplaining. What a sharp contrast it must be to be in the throes of pain and to be instantly transported to fullness of life in God's presence. God's word says, "the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that is to be revealed to us." Jesus told the thief on the cross that he would be with Him that day in Paradise. And so I trust in God's provision of Jesus and have unwavering faith in the promise of heaven for all that believe.

Our Master

I rarely forward e-mails that contain stories or jokes or chain letters. However, I found this one from my Grandmother-in-law to be simple and beautiful. As my Uncle Ron is in the last days of his life here on Earth, I thought it was especially meaningful.

A sick man turned to his doctor, as he was preparing to leave the examination room and said, 'Doctor, I am afraid to die. Tell me what lies on the other side.'
Very quietly, the doctor said, 'I don't know.'
'You don't know? You, a Christian man, do not know what is on the other side?'
The doctor was holding the handle of the door; on the other side came a sound of scratching and whining, and as he opened the door, a dog sprang into the room and leaped on him with an eager show of gladness.
Turning to the patient, the doctor said, 'Did you notice my dog? He's never been in this room before. He didn't know what was inside. He knew nothing except that his master was here, and when the door opened, he sprang in without fear. I know little of what is on the other side of death, but I do know one thing... I know my Master is there and that is enough.'

I have written before about how faithful dogs are to serve their Masters. This is again a good reminder to me to spend time with my Master so I can better serve Him.

Nearly One

We had a busy week last week. My brother was in town for my cousin's wedding, and so we had an early birthday celebration for him and Molly. She wasn't too interested in her cake, but she loves her new presents. She also wore a lei the entire time and didn't try to take it off. My parents wanted to take Molly to her first circus. She enjoyed watching the action from Papa's arms. We then left Molly at home with her first teenage babysitter and went to the wedding. It was beautiful, and Molly seemed to do well at home. We are still trying to figure out the mystery of the five cheerios found in her crib...

Love Shack

Molly loves to push our stools around. She does not yet know that she has to push at or below the center of mass in order to keep them from toppling. We'll work on the physics lesson.
She loves to clap her hands. Often, if I tell her, "Good girl!" She'll begin clapping. She loves to give kisses. She kisses the cat all the time. She'll open her mouth slightly and lean over to touch his back. She's also kissing us quite a bit. It's sweet!

Mom and Dad babysat, and Ryan and I went to the Love Shack! A famous chef in town, Tim Love, has an upscale restaurant, but he also opened this entirely outdoors burger joint in the Stockyards area of town. The only indoor parts of the place are the kitchen and restrooms. There was live music, and we sat the highest level of patio seating overlooking the street below. It was really fun.

Oklahoma!

We took a family trip to Lake Murray in Oklahoma last weekend. We stayed at the lodge at the state park. The lake was beautiful, but it wasn't very baby friendly. We are used to Michigan's beautiful beaches and were disappointed at the beaches there. It is a manmade lake, as most in this part of the country are. We just went into the lake for a few minutes. We swam in the pool a little bit, too. It seems like a very fun park for older kids. There was mini golf, lot of playgrounds, and many water sports. There were also a lot of cabins and villas for rent- all air conditioned! The most difficult part of our trip was that Molly woke up at 4:50 am both days. She was too excited to sleep in the same room with us! The second morning we just left at 5:15 am and were home just after 7! We didn't want to hang around just to kill time for a few hours.


We also visited Gene Autry, Oklahoma. It is the weirdest little town. There is basically nothing there except a BBQ restaurant, a huge Dollar General warehouse, a nice sized airport, a post office, 3 churches, a convenience store, and the Gene Autry Oklahoma museum. There were no fastfood restaurants even. The nearest town is at least 10 miles away. The Tex Ritter picture is with respect to my maiden name. The museum is packed with all kinds of film and concert posters and memorabilia. This small town and others we drove through reminded me of the setting of Napoleon Dynamite.

Molly's little second cousin is growing up. Molly is good at giving the cat kisses, but we couldn't get her to kiss the baby.

Summer Days

Here is our park visit from a mom's perspective: We met Xander and his mom at the park this morning. It feels good to have a social arrangement, but we are so busy taking care of our little ones that there is little time for conversation. Our babies are also too little to interact much with each other, so there is very little social aspect to this play date. Before I unstrap Molly from the stroller, I subject her to a slathering of baby sunscreen and the affixing of her shoes. Finally it would seem like she'd get some freedom to explore. We sit in the pebbles that fill the playground area. She is very content for a minute or two to merely let the stones fall between her fingers. You, astute reader, are likely correctly predicting that she quickly grew curious about the taste of the stones. The next several minutes are a wrestling match as I try to pry a pebble from her mouth, empty her tightly clenched fists of stones, and prevent her from grabbing any others. Remarkably, I succeed.
Making feeble conversation with my friend, we climb, babies in tow, a top the multifunction play center. We strategically place our bodies to block any places where the babes could fall. They spend several minutes deciding that they each desire the toy that the other is holding. Amazingly, their inability to share does not result in any anger or tears. A discussion about whether Molly and Xander are able use the slide unaccompanied, but not unassisted, comprised the next few minutes. We come to the conclusion that they probably are able, but the friction of the slide on their bare legs might hurt them. Xander and his mom climb down while Molly and I slide together.
We amble to the baby swings, examine them to make sure the hornet that had been sitting on the swing had not made a nest inside. Molly begins her crinkly-nosed, squinty-eyed breathy laugh as she begins riding the pendulum motion. I enjoy the moment with her briefly, but then run to the diaper bag to obtain my camera and her hat. Amazingly, she doesn't protest about the hat. My second attempt at affixing it works. As expertly as I try to photograph the swing in motion, I fail. I decide that it is more fun to watch her swing and laugh with her than try to capture an adequate photo. So, I spend a few minutes pushing her swing and watching her smile. We quickly get hot as the temperatures soar into the 90s. So, we return to the play structure to enjoy its shade. Molly is looking cute in her hat, so I snap some pictures as she stands and plays. Since we are getting dusty and sweaty, we decide to head home. Next week we'll try something cleaner, like toddler story-time.

Farmer's Market

This diaper goes on my bottom? But it is so fun to play with!

See me wobble as I walk!

Good Golly

Molly loves the water. She loves taking a bath in her ducky tub. She also loves to go to the pool. When we get back, she gets a sink bath. We can't get her undressed fast enough when the water is running. She is frantic to get into the water!

We do style Molly's hair, although you wouldn't know it by these last two pictures. Sometimes I even put a bow or barrette in her hair. Today, she was wearing a turquoise and periwinkle jumpsuit with flowers on it as well as a purple flowered barrette. A man at Borders asked, "How old is he?" This happens to every baby, but it is just so funny when it does! As you can see, Molly has discovered climbing. She likes to climb on this chair to reach for the blinds.
Molly loves to eat. She eats Cheerios throughout the day. She eats little pieces of food off of her high chair, mostly cheese and Cheerios. She likes all kinds of cheese, like her mama. We cut melon into tiny cubes and feed them to her by spoon. She eats hummus by sucking it off of a cracker, or I break a cracker into tiny bits and feed them to her with a little hummus on it.
She is walking a lot. She started walking when she was 9 1/2 months old. I'm not sure if I mentioned that in a previous post. She is pretty unsteady, but she LOVES walking. She sometimes laughs and grins as she toddles. Crawling is still her main source of transportation, but she's walking more and more.
She is very interested in books. She plays with her books more than anything else. Pulling the books and toys off of her shelf is a favorite activity. She pages through them and looks at the pictures. Her favorite one is a lift the flap book about God watching over the animals and people as we sleep. She always reaches for it, even when it is on the bottom of a stack. She looks at it probably 10 or 20 times a day.
We are so thankful for our baby and love spending every day with her. We pray often that God would give us wisdom as parents and that He'd continue to give her a spirit of peace and joy.
Please pray for my Uncle Ron. He is suffering from cancer and is in need of a miracle. Thanks!

Ryan's Birthday

Just a quick post because it's bedtime. These are some pictures from the park last week. Ryan got a new cell phone recently, and it has a slot for a memory card. So, these are pix from his phone that we then saved to our computer. Fun!
Ryan babysat this morning when I worked at the GAP. Then we went to a running store and got him some shorts and ordered some shoes. We ate out at La Playa Maya, a Mexican restaurant specializing in seafood. I had ceviche. It is like a fish salad. Very yummy. I had it on our honeymoon in Los Cabos, too. We then watched a video after Molly was in bed. I had fun on Ryan's birthday. I hope he did, too. I did make him a pretty good breakfast- egg casserole with hash browns topped with an egg mixture containing bacon, mushrooms, tomato, and cheese. I served it with a side dish of fresh raspberries. Yum!

No More House

Sadly we withdrew the offer on our house yesterday. It just had too many repairs that needed to be done. Our insurance company wouldn't insure it with the roof in its current condition. It also had some original clay pipes in the plumbing. Clay pipes don't usually last this long, so surely they would have failed while we owned the home. To put it very nicely, our realtor wasn't the most helpful during this process. At one point, I told him I felt like he was representing the seller as he continued to tell us it was a great house. We are not too upset; we're just feeling gun shy about looking for another house. However, we're relieved to be out of this position and eager to be saying adios to our realtor. I'll write soon about some of Molly's new milestones!

Waiting Waiting

We put an offer on a house yesterday. The seller's realtor has been out of town so we probably won't get a response until this evening. So, we are waiting and praying. The house was fresh on the market and is beautiful. Hopefully they'll accept our offer soon!

The best part about Ryan's new teaching job is a position as a head cross country coach. This has been a long time dream of his. He is especially excited because he is at a great school and has a talented team. They meet to run Monday through Thursday mornings throughout the summer. Molly and I hope to join them for these runs (we'll be lagging behind quite a bit, I'm sure). It will be fun for me to get to know the kids on the teams. I'm sure they'll enjoy getting to know Molly as well.

I also got a summer job at the GAP. I worked there in Ohio, so it should be pretty easy to learn the ropes again. The manager said that the shifts are maximum 4.5 hours, and most people work 10-15 hours per week. That sounds great to me! I'm excited to meet some people in the area, let Ryan and Molly have time together, and get some new clothes!

Father's Day

Ryan's first Father's Day
Molly had her first taste of steak with Grandpa K. We were celebrating Ryan's new job at one of Fort Worth's best high schools. We are eager to start looking for a house near the school. I'm especially excited to be able to stay in the city and not move to a rural town near the other jobs for which Ryan applied.
All you golf fans will appreciate this: Molly is wearing her officially licensed Pinehurst onesie. HMMMM... I wonder who gave this to her?!?!
My parents came over on Sunday and celebrated Father's Day with fajitas. That sounds like a good Texas Father's Day tradition. Tex Mex con Padre!
Smiley girl!

Molly and Friends

This is Molly's new second cousin Ella. She's about 12 days old in this picture. It was difficult to pose the two together. We didn't want Molly to hurt Ella, and it is hard to get Molly to sit still! It will be fun in a few months when Molly can entertain Ella and bring her toys.
I think these trees are called Crepe Myrtles. They are all over the place down here. They are beautiful and were one of my grandpa's favorites. This is right outside our apartment this morning. The mornings here are beautiful. It is usually breezy with temperatures in the 70s. I don't mind the afternoon heat, either. It is consistently 90s and sunny but rarely humid.

Molly knows how to take a bite out of an apple now. After she does it, I get nervous and just put an apple slice in her mesh feeder so she won't get a big chunk that she can choke on. She has sharp teeth! She's been a little fussy this week, and I think she's getting her last two bottom front teeth.
This is my friend Amanda and her baby Xander. He is a month older than Molly and is a very good walker. We went to the pool with them this morning.

Nine Months Old

Molly's nine month birthday was this weekend. We also celebrated my mom's birthday. I made my first souffles which looked great when I pulled them out of the oven. Five minutes later they had fallen sadly. We also went to watch my cousins at the Scottish games. We got to meet Molly's week-old second cousin Ella.

Molly had her nine month appointment yesterday. She still is not yet 18 pounds, but she's nearly 30 inches (2 and a half feet!). She's low on the spectrum for weight, but she's near the top for height. I also recently got tested for celiac disease (gluten allergy) to see if I could be a carrier. I was negative, so there's no way Molly can have it. So, unlike her daddy, she can eat bread and products containing flour. That's good news!

Ryan is done with school, and Molly is keeping both of us busy! We are busy keeping her safe and crawling around after her!

GRRRR!

Molly's Grandma B gave her a book with a stuffed bear affixed to it. Whenever we look at the book, Molly tries with great might to pull the bear off. I have marveled at how effectively the bear is attached to the book. Naively, I felt comfortable leaving this book with Molly in her crib when she took a nap. Later in the day, after Molly had awoken from a nap, something in her crib caught my eye. It was the bear's head! The bear had in fact stayed attached to the book, but she decapitated it! I'm learning not to assume anything is safe with a baby!

Monday Morning

Big smile for the camera!

I love this picture because they are both smiling, but I couldn't get Grandma or Molly to look at the camera!

I was feeling sorry for myself this weekend. It is Ryan's last busy weekend for school. He was writing a final exam and finishing some grading. I was bored and wanted to get out and do something. Our apartment complex had a party on Saturday at the new pool. Molly and I went to that and talked to some friends there and met a new friend. So that was fun, but I wanted to make sure that I had something fun to do on Sunday. I was bugging Ryan to go do something with us. I searched on the web for things to do. Then I realized that I really needed to go see Grandma. Instead of focusing on myself, I needed to do something for someone else. So, Molly and I went and spent a few minutes with Grandma. She always loves holding Molly, and the baby is usually content to stay in her arms.

Molly has been a mysterious napper lately. Most of the time when we put her down for a nap, we'll give her one of her bunny blankets to snuggle, and she'll pull her knees to her chest and roll to her side. Sometimes she won't close her eyes right away, but she'll study her bunny for awhile. Of course, there are times that she doesn't want to go to bed, so we'll let her cry a little. Other times we'll put her in her crib, and she'll sit up and start to play as we close the door. Yesterday morning, she did just that. Sometimes I'll check on her fifteen minutes later, and she'll still be playing silently. Yesterday, an hour after we left her playing in her crib, we opened her door to find her standing up looking at us. She had a poopy diaper. We have no idea what happened during the previous hour. Did she play for awhile, and then sleep also? Or, was she awake for the whole time? Why didn't she cry or even talk to herself if she was awake?

Molly has new experiences every day- especially food. Yesterday, I pureed some kiwis and strawberries. It was pretty sour, so I bought some bananas to add to them. It sounds like pretty fancy food for a baby, but I got the pound of strawberries for $1 and the kiwis for 10 cents each. Paired with a banana, I can probably make the equivalent of 8-10 jars of baby food for around $2. It is so fresh and yummy, too. This morning, I put some prunes in the blender with water and mixed it with cereal for Molly's breakfast. I think I've discovered a great non-medicinal baby laxative. She also had a few sips of Yoplait Kids drinkable yogurt which she loved. I also gave her a little bit of cherry. I was eating cherries in front of her (my first mistake). Then, because I'm a first-time mom, I didn't just distract her with something else. No, I took the effort of pitting a cherry, using a baby spoon to scoop the flesh away from the skin and cutting up the flesh. She enjoyed that also.

Since Molly is quiet in her crib, I'm going to assume she's asleep. So, I better take advantage of this chance to shower and get ready for the day!