Must apologize

I must apologize. We have been so busy with school starting, football and just getting back into the groove of everything that the blog has been looked over. Well hopefully now that things are getting into a routine I can blog a little more.
Mollie:
She is doing SO good in her new class. We love her 2 teachers and has even learned to count to 10 in Spanish. Imagine the looks on mine and John's faces when she busted out with that one night at dinner. We are so proud of her. She's gone to two of John's games (including one scrimmage) and gratefully my mom has come so that helps since I'm almost to the point where bending over and picking stuff up will not be an option for me. Mollie doesn't understand quite yet why Daddy can't come and see us all the time during the game so we make sure we see him pre-game and post-game and maybe halftime. The stadium at his new school is so nice and I can take an elevator up and then walk down about 10 rows to my seats which is much nicer than walking up 35 stairs to get to our seats. As you probably know, Texas was playing Rice yesterday in Houston so we (or I) felt that since we were going we could take Mollie to her first college football game. She did so well! We tailgated with my parents and my good friend Nancy and her brother and she even snuck in a nap during the third quarter.

John:
SUPER BUSY! Granted he's not as busy as he was at Clear Brook with events but he really likes it. I haven't seen a fire like this in him for a very long time and it's nice to see him enjoying himself and with what he's doing. It's been a long time since I've seen this and I'm so happy for him. He usually has late days where he doesn't have to go in till 9 or 10 because Jenna (his work wife) comes in and does the morning treatments so on these days he takes Mollie to school. This really helps me out but I find myself running late on these days! :) Besides that, Dickinson is 0-2 for the beginning of the football season but we're not in district play yet so no worries and his volleyball team is doing very well.

Me:
Getting bigger is all I can say. I've really been able to feel the baby move the past week and hopefully in the next few days John will be able to feel "Baby H" also. My school year started off great which is a nice change from last year and I'm really enjoying my classes. I have 4 GT classes and 2 Regular Ed classes and one advisory. I have a lot of siblings this year so at open house it felt more like a reunion than anything for me. We have set the baby's due date to January 18th and will do a c-section again. I'm still on month-to-month appointments and won't start every 2 weeks till November and then every week in December. So I'll come back to school for 2 weeks after Christmas then will take off until the end of March/beginning of April. The baby will go to the same day care as Mollie and I'm so excited about the ladies that work in the nursery there. They were so good with Mollie so I know they'll be awesome with our new addition.

This and That

We survived!
A few of the stingrays.

Daddy showing Mollie how to pet the rays. She was not having it!

Checking out the catfish.

We are officially back in school mode. John went back two weeks ago (but his hours are dramatically different than they were at Clear Brook) and I went back to school yesterday. Kids come back on August 23rd. Mollie started in her new "class" yesterday at day care. I am SO excited about her teachers and even had to buy her school supplies! Her "Auntie Julie" bought her and Elmo backpack which Mollie calls a "pack cak" and wore it into her school yesterday. SO CUTE!

Last night we headed over to Kemah for a free event for teachers at their aquarium. They provided food and drinks, a free behind the scenes tour, admission to their stingray exhibit and Mollie won 2 tickets to ride a ride on the boardwalk train. She was okay in the stingray exhibit looking at the fish but did not like petting and feeding the stingrays. Needless to say, she and I let Daddy do that part. She really liked riding the train and it would have been perfect except for the heat. Today the heat index is supposed to be 112, so we'll be staying inside. Love to all!

New Due Date and Ultrasound on Baby "H"

We had an ultrasound today on Baby "H" and my NEW due date is January 20th. I think, after 4 times, we finally have it right. It's been so crazy but with the ultrasound done today they were able to get some really good measurements of the baby and therefore, were able to finally figure out how long the baby was. The ultrasound went very well. We got some really good pictures (they will be scanned and posted in the next day or two) of the baby and could see the eyes, chin (John's chin), heart beating, the legs forming and it's brain. Unfortunately, Mollie wasn't able to come with us and see Baby "H" but she will definitely join us for the next one! I'm going to take one of the ultrasound pictures and frame it in a special frame so that Mollie can have a special picture in her room of Baby "H". Besides that John is officially back at work and things are going very well. I am participating in a 3-day workshop that started today and will conclude on Friday. After this is over I will have 2 more weeks till I go back so Mollie and I might take a little road trip up to the San Antonio area but we'll see.

Home, Sweet, Home

Well we made it back to Texas in one piece with a car that wasn't too filled with much stuff. I swear, I can't even imagine what next year's trip will be like with 2 kiddos! We had so much in Knoxville, Bean Station, Clemson and Edisto this year. I can't get over how much Mollie blossoms when we are off in the summer and am amazed at everything she can do. We were very sad to leave everyone but now that our new laptop has Skype on it, we talk to our East Tennessee/South Carolina family a lot more. Since we've been back John has been working most mornings at Dickinson, I've been trying to get the house under control and Mollie's been into everything but what else is new? I was supposed to have an ultrasound yesterday but the ultrasound tech called in sick so we rescheduled for next week. However, I did go in yesterday for my monthly appointment and got to hear the baby's heartbeat. My due date has been moved to January 24th and since we'll be doing a C-Section, most likely, the baby will come the week of January 17th. Besides that things are back to whatever we consider normal and love being home.

We made it!!

Well we made it to Knoxville safe and sound. We left our house at 4:50 a.m., on Wednesday and drove till about 4:00 that afternoon and stopped in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. That night we swam at the hotel and went out to eat. I totally forgot that the University of Alabama is in Tuscaloosa and wore one of my many Texas shirts out that night but no one said anything so that was nice. :) We got up Thursday and ate breakfast and loaded up the car for the 5 hours left of our trip. We got into Knoxville around 4:00 and John's mom and step-dad were VERY happy to see Mollie, and us. Mollie did very well on the trip. Thank goodness for the DVD player and also the little car seat tray where she could color, play with her blocks and put her snacks and drinks. It's such a nice little tray because it is rounded around the edges so nothing can roll off and even has a cup holder. Tonight we are going to the Tennessee Smokies baseball game with many of John's family members so that should be a lot of fun. Love to all!

Loving the water

Yesterday Mollie and I went to the Discovery Green park in Downtown Houston with our good friends Liz and Sally and Liz's nephew Sydney. Liz is awesome because she loves doing stuff in the summer that is either low cost or FREE so we get along very well! :) I had never been there to hang out before, only walked around it a few times going to Astros games, so I was pretty excited. During the weekends they have a ton of stuff going on but on a weekday it's more low-key. Needless to say, they have a water area where the kids can play and Mollie loved that. Being the wonderful mother I am, I totally forgot Mollie's bathing suit (they are all packed for ETN) so I just let her run around the water in her clothes. You're only 2 once, right?

She had so much fun! She played and played for a good hour but started getting fussy so we had to head home. We will definitely be visiting this place again and I think I'll bring the bathing suit next time. Enjoy!

Summer Pool Fun and a Sad Good-Bye

Everyone knows how much we LOVE being off in the summer and hanging out with all our friends and Sunday was no exception. Gretchen had us over for a good-bye party for our awesome friend Sally who teaches with everyone at Clear Brook. Sally is leaving us to go back to Auburn and teach and coach there. We are so sad but excited because we've already told her that we will be coming to visit. She's just a caring, awesome person who is as genuine as someone can come and she LOVES Mollie so, why couldn't you love someone like that???
Anyway, we went over on Sunday for our last crawfish boil of the season and lots of swimming. We all know that Mollie loves the water and just to prove this point: she got in the pool around 2:45 and didn't get out till close to 8:00 that evening. Holy cow! Needless to say, she was tired the next day and took 2 naps. So, I hope you enjoy the pictures.....

Sally (the one leaving us) and Liz (our awesome house sitter from last summer)


Daddy and his girl...this was as the evening was winding down.

Mollie loving the birthday cake for her buddy's, Michell's, birthday. I think this is only like the 4th time she got out of the pool the whole time we were there.

Daddy and his girl. Like the pigtails?

Starting the day off right....in the pool she goes. Can we say she is definitely a Harmon Baby??