Teething is Here

Cheyenne has a tooth coming in and yesterday she was not happy about it. For a few weeks, I've been trying to wean her off of the pacifier, but yesterday it seemed to really help soothe her.

So far, our day is much better. I have my baby back.


Trey and I had a good weekend. We went to the Movie Tavern and watched Transformers. It was nice to get out and go on a date.

Pool Party

Yesterday, we spent the afternoon by the pool, over at Chip and Amanda's.

She likes doing this a lot.

Natasha's Big Face

My little sister had her wisdom teeth taken out. I heard her face was swollen and she sent me these pictures to confirm.
HAHAHAHA!

We Shall Try This Again

So, I didn't realize the video I posted, a few days ago was set to private. It played for me, because I was signed into my YouTube account. Someone should've told me sooner. Either way, I got the message and now I'm reposting it.

Other than making noises, her latest thing is sticking her tongue out. She is also starting to pull my hair. She thinks it's hilarious. I play along as long as she's gentle.

This morning I looked at Cheyenne and I'm telling you, her hair grew overnight. She went from bald baby to stringy hair. I think once her hair really comes in, she'll start to resemble me a little more. I think her hair color will settle on brown, but right now that is up for debate.

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On a side note, please lift up Trey's grandfather in prayer. He is not doing well. Thank you.

Morning Baby

Yesterday morning, Cheyenne did not sleep in like I expected her to, instead she woke up around 8 am and only took a few cat naps throughout the day. I took these pictures of her first thing in the morning. She is always so happy when she wakes up.

The sun pours into our windows every morning and I love the way these images turned out.


She's throwing up her gang sign

Father's Day Fun

Happy Father's Day to Trey!
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Yesterday, we meet up at Chip and Amanda's and cooked out and relaxed in the pool. Steak and Potatoes and lots of desert!

Cheyenne could care less about picture taking, she was really into splashing.

Amanda showing her little baby bump.

The Borghese Family

I think Brianna was hungry

The water was a little chilly.

Erin and Bri

We stayed out late which we haven't done, post-Cheyenne. While we were visiting, Cheyenne finally fell asleep in her car seat, sometime around 10:30. She was exhausted. We eventually made it home past midnight and when I woke her up to clean her up and get her situated for the night, she got cranky. So, this morning I'm going to let her sleep in as long as she wants. Poor thing. This morning I don't have much planned, except cross training. I would rather run, but it's good for the body to mix it up.

Oh, and about Cheyenne's new car seat, we probably won't start using it until next week, but I hope she likes it.

Big Girl Car Seat

Our Favorite Past Time

Compost is Done and It's Too Hot to Run

I’m back in the ELEMENT. The repairs look good and it’s wonderful to be back in my familiar SUV.

In other news, I think it’s safe to say the compost bin is COMPLETE. After Saturday’s baby food adventure, we had a ton of kitchen waste---So I have that pile going in the compost. Earlier this week, I purchased some straw from our local feed store. It was 3 bucks (not bad) and I hear in order to get a good compost batch, you should really use manure….gross I know. We live in a semi-rural area so, I’m thinking about sending Trey to the horse stables to get some. He would do it, I think. But first I need to look up and see if horse manure will be okay, instead of cow. Anyone have experience? This composting business is all new to me, so it may take a while to figure it out. I have several layers going right now:
1. Straw
2. Kitchen waste
3. Straw
4. Kitchen waste
5. Grass clippings
At the end of the week, I have to get out there and turn it with my pitchfork. Yeah, a pitchfork, maybe I’ll put on some overalls while I’m doing it. HA!

About the running
I’m re-evaluating my long runs because Saturday morning Cheyenne and I ran outside and it was beyond HOT! Towards the end, I started to get dizzy. So, now I’m thinking about doing the treadmill for anything over 4 miles, at least during the summer. Long run and treadmill should not be in the same sentence, but it’s better than fainting. My other option, is to wake up extremely early before it gets too hot. But, other than weather complaints, running is great. I’m averaging 13-14 miles a week and loving it. Some days are harder than others, luckily yesterdays 4 miler was easy—I also did that on the treadmill. I had a towel and water close by and a fan keeping me cool----much better than Saturday. I had planned on being outside, but Trey wanted to do yard work and someone needed to stay inside, in case Cheyenne decided to wake up.

Motivation to Move

For a while now, Cheyenne has been crawling/moving in circles and it's only a matter of time before she starts to move forward. Since she loves remote controls, we thought it would be good motivation to get her going in the right direction.

I don't have to worry about making baby food for a while because Saturday, Leah and Erin came over and we pureed a ton of it. Bananas, strawberries, nectarines, apples, pears, eggplant, squash, red potatoes, beef, chicken..and I'm probably forgetting one or two. Our babies will be eating better than us! Wow, you should try the red potatoes, they are so creamy! I will have to refrain from eating them. I hope Cheyenne likes them as much as me.

It was nice pureeing the food with friends. We got to hang out, our kids entertained each other, it brought down the overall cost and labor of the food, and it was fun. Now, I have a freezer full of food and a wide variety.

And about the eggplant----I think Cheyenne had an allergic reaction to it. Her face (right around her mouth) got blotchy. It was not pretty So, we probably won't be eating eggplant for a while. I passed the remaining bit off to Leah.

So the kitchen defiantly got used this weekend because Sunday we had Breanna and Nathan over for lunch. They are friends of mine from UTA and Trey finally got to meet them. They both love football, so they fit right in. Trey had one of the Cowboys game on the DVR from last season so we watch it. Can you tell someone is ready for football season...Oh and a quick update on Trey, he's back to normal and feeling fine.

2nd ER Visit this Month

Last night, Trey had severe chest pain so we spent the evening in the hospital. The ER doctor ran several test and blood work and everything came back normal. It's frustrating not knowing what caused the pain, but I'm thankful he's back to normal.

Here's miss Cheyenne:

I think somebody is ready for summer.

She's sporting a Texas Rangers Hat. Go Rangers!

Her first pair of shorts.

Toy in the mouth, big surprise.

Last night, she went to sleep 2 hours later than she normally does, so right now she's taking a nap. I'm going to take advantage of that and do some cross training. I'll update you on the running later.

The Rental

I'm driving a rental around town, while the Element is being repaired. Enterprise hooked me up with a toyota rav4. It feels a lot smaller compared the Element, but the drive is smooth. I'm not crazy about the cruise control in this car, but I think I'm getting use to it. Hopefully, the Element will be out of the shop soon.

Speaking of cars, Trey and I test drove a Camaro. Yeah. I have mixed feelings about it. When I test drove it, I was really nervous because all I could think of was "Wow, this is a super expensive car that doesn't belong to me." I like it, but then again I don't. Contradiction, I know. At the moment, we don't need another vehicle, so maybe that's why I'm not excited about it. Plus, I don't think the Camaro is family friendly--Trey defends my argument by saying that's why we have an SUV...this is true.

We're still sticking to our guns, about waiting a few years, before making a decision to purchase, although I can tell Trey is getting ancy. This shall be his quarter life crisis car, but he may be 30 before he gets it....


Let's ask Cheyenne what she thinks.

So this is how it Works...

I will definetly use this as a reference video, since I don't have a clue what I'm doing. This is also the same model Trey made. If you like it, you can look it up at lowes.com

How to Compost at Home with a Composting Bin
by RM-gable

Birthday Wish: Compost Bin

Check out this big mamma....
It's still not complete, but you get the idea. This is basically, the finished product. All it needs is some hardware cloth on both sides and the top door. Not sure if Trey plans on putting a door/lid on the left side. I like how he made the bin with removable slats.

I put my flip flop here so you can get a scope of the size. It's pretty big. Depending on what the finished compost looks like, I think I might sell some.

I already have kitchen waste ready to go. It'll probably take 4-8 months for the first batch to breakdown.

Honda Pilot Rear Ends Our Element

Yesterday, Cheyenne and I were in a car accident. We are fine, thanks to God. I’m a little sore this morning, but not bad enough to miss work and Cheyenne is all smiles.

So here’s what happened
I was on my home (in the Element). I drove on the interstate and when it was time I took my exit. I was waiting and yielding to on-coming traffic and that’s when an SUV rear-ended my car. It was a low impact crash and to the naked eye it does not look bad, but there is significant damage to the tailgate. It’s all bent up.

Immediately after the accident, the driver, a middle age woman, tried to talk me out of filing a claim with insurance. I told her I needed a moment and I called Trey and then notified the police. I don’t know why this woman wants to go around insurance, when her car is insured. I think she wants to avoid paying the deductible. Either way, she has insurance and we’ve already notified our insurance company. Trey and I don’t want to have to deal with collecting money from this lady and having her cut us personal checks…..that’s why we have insurance to handle this kind of stuff. Plus, I watch Judge Judy and I wasn’t born yesterday---just because I’m young, doesn’t mean I’m stupid.

About Cheyenne
After impact, Cheyenne woke from her nap and started to scream for a few seconds and then feel back a sleep. She didn’t appear to have any visible injuries, but we decided to take her to Cook Children’s Emergency Room as a precautionary measure. They examined her and assured us she was not harmed. They even had a car seat specialist look at the carrier to determine if it’s safe to continue to use. Since, the collision was low impact, the car seat is good to use again. Our insurance will most likely cover the cost for a new one, so we are probably going to transition her to a convertible seat.

Here is Cheyenne at Cook Children’s in the hospital gown.

She looks like a giant baby in these pictures.

I’m very pleased with Cook’s. I’ve always heard it’s one of the best, but having dealt with them, I can testify to that. The wait was minimal and the service and care was outstanding. Cook Children’s you get an A+!

Cheyenne at the Gardens

Cheyenne is about 7 months old.

Rockin' the Bonnet

Cheyenne, right before we went to church this morning.


"Yes, I know these shoes are fabulous!"

Half Marathon and more on Goucher

It’s months away, but I’m already thinking about the half marathon. Linda and Steve will also participate in the same race. I know Linda will begin training next week, so it’s got us both thinking about a training program.

The training programs I’ve seen are tailored for 8-12 weeks leading up to the race. Whereas, I’m looking for a few months of training---that’s been hard to find.

Here is a loose training program I drafted up for the month of June:
Run 3x’s a wk
Cross Train 1x a wk
Minimum Run 4m
Long Run 1x a wk at 6m

A half marathon consist of 13.1 miles, but I will only train for 12 or maybe 10, depending on how things go. The goal is that by December my long runs will be 12 miles and from that point I have a few weeks to taper off before the race.

It will be interesting to see how this training goes. I'm trying my best to not let the training interfere with family time. Cheyenne has joined me on just about every long run. I think it might be unreasonable to have her on runs lasting more than an hour and a half. Maybe we can designate some daddy daughter time, when the time comes. Running the two 4 mile runs a week should not be a problem. I've already started that regiment this week. I put Cheyenne down for the night, Trey stays behind and then hit the road, that way I don't lose what little awake time I have with her during the weekday.

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More on Kara Goucher
Since I posted that last entry on Goucher, I found a few videos. I thought I'd share this one. The scene with her on the treadmill kind of freaks me out because the resemblance is creepy.


Oh, I've already looked into it, Nike's Believe in the Run campaign, ended in April. Too bad.

Project Natal: The Jetsons Come to Life

This is amazing!

Hello Sippy Cup

The last time we went to see the doctor, he said it would be a good idea to introduce a cup to Cheyenne. She's still using bottles over at daycare, but in the evenings Trey and I like to give her the sippy cup to wash down her dinner. So far, she's had a mixed reaction to the cup. I think she's still trying to figure out how it works. Also, she's not use to water or the cool temperature.

"What in the world is this thing?"

"Maybe I'm suppose to chew it."

"Maybe if I smush my nose, this will work."

"Almost got it."

"Success!"
Now, if she would only lean her head back.