Wednesday, September 30, 2009

More Labor Day

Here are some more pictures of our Labor Day extravaganza, posted by request. Marlene, I'm still waiting for you to send me your pictures so I can do a page for Darren (and kids) and Brad (and more of Amy).






Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Texan Jumping Bean

Yesterday Bella started doing a strange squatting/ standing motion repeatedly and I couldn't figure it out. I think we know what she was up to, and the video says it all.

Bella has had quite a busy week. Yesterday she turned 17 months old, and she has been adding words and phrases to her vocabulary in preparation for this event. It's just taken me a long time to figure out that she is actually saying something, but she's been doing this for a while. Last week she started saying "meeeeees" complete with a belly rubbing gesture (which would be the baby sign for "please" that I tried to teach to her 5 months ago). Her repertoire also includes, "oi go?" (where did it go?) "ge go" (let's go), "dat" (that), "gay goo" (thank you), and several other phrases that I haven't deciphered yet.
On another note we would like to proudly announce our anticipation of Harvey baby #2, and...it's a BOY! Which means that the Darley curse isn't real. I'm due on Feb 6, 2010. That means I'm at 20 weeks right now, although I look and feel like I'm 30 weeks along. Any ideas for boys names?

Monday, September 14, 2009

Labor Day Darley Barbecue


As I noted in my previous post, we were in Utah for Labor Day. Our holiday began with packing and loading up the cars after a weekend up at a condo. By the time we left we were dressed and ready for a two and a half hour photo shoot in Salt Lake. Bella, however, had other ideas. She redecorated her outfit with throw up before we had escaped the canyon. We made an emergency stop to clean it up, and another at the mall to buy another out fit so that she would still match Ellie. Bella cried the whole way there, until picture time. Drake Busath was so good with the kids that he brought a smile to Bella's face when he was trying to make the other kids smile.

Although it was technically a Harvey holiday, we had plans to pop into the Darley's for the usual celebratory barbecue. We made several unsuccessful attempts at giving Bella a nap. I don't think Ryan would have turned one down if he'd been given the chance.

Our labor day adventures didn't end until almost 2 a.m. The flight back to Houston was a series of hopeless efforts at getting Bella to sleep in our arms, being substitutes for a personal jungle gym, and trying to keep her from kicking the seats in front of us. She finally surrendered to her droopy eye lids 15 minutes before we landed. Just after Bella settled on the floor the stewardess advised us that she wasn't allowed to lay on the floor.

The fun wasn't over after we landed either. As we turned onto our street at 1:30 a.m. a police cruiser flipped a U behind us, followed us, then finally flashed his lights at us. He informed us that he had detained us because he clocked us at 6 over the speed limit, but added that we also have a light out on our license plate, we need to get our Texas registration, and change our out of state driver's licenses. Luckily he only gave us a warning.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Labor Day Weekend Bliss


Although we are 24 hours (by car) away from family, we still got to spend the weekend with them for labor day. I must thank the photographer for failing to take even one acceptable family picture in our June photo shoot. If he had, Marlene couldn't have persuaded Mark to fly us back out for another try before Travis leaves on his mission. Thus it is that we came to be in Utah last weekend and spent most of our time boating/ jet skiing/ wake boarding/ water skiing at Pineview- compliments of the Harvey's.

We had a blast out on the lake. The weather was perfect and my brother brought up a boat and drove it all day for us. He was a hit- and the boat too. I spent most of my time on the boat because the doc gave a "no-go" on the water skiing, wakeboarding, jet skiing, tubing and everything else, so I'm especially glad Jon came up.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Moving Up in Life

After 4 apartments in 2.5 years of marriage, we've found one we love. Many of you may recall our humble beginnings with a "multi-purpose room" that functioned as front room, study, and bedroom (and there was no closet). Well I do. Now we are basking in the luxury of an apartment that includes not only an actual bedroom, but also a walk-in closet and a study that we converted into Bella's room. We almost have two bedrooms! We also pay three times more than we did for the studio apartment, but it is soooooo worth it (because we are done with school and Ryan has a real job).

Our last apartment, here in Houston, was the worst. Although it was an upgrade in the square footage- and it had carpet!!!- it was a scary place. Little homies were always lurking around the buildings and in the parking lots. The dumpsters were always overflowing, and the hot tub grew something green and slimy. I haven't seen any of the above in our new place. On the positive side, we've been enjoying the kiddie section of the pool, the playground, and a fitness center with state of the art equipment (ask Ryan how it is to run on a treadmill that shuts off if your pace is too fast). Anyway, we like it here.