IM TIRED

So Roxy is a total paci (pacifier) girl.  She has taken her paci since day one and has not put it down.  We can not get this girl to put aside the paci.   So lately we have been fighting the good fight and she now only takes her paci when she is going to sleep.  BUT now that she knows she gets them when she goes to bed, when she finds one and we tell her to and put it in her bed she looks at us and says, "I'm tired."  At least two or three times a day i hear, "I'm tired."  And sometimes she will go and lay in bed suck on her paci for a while and them come back out.

PEE PEE PRIDE

SHE DID IT!!!!! ROXY HAS FINALLY PEED IN HER POTTY.  Yes it was only once, but we are going in the right direction.  She had her best friend Savannah over and she pees in the toilet.  Roxy saw her do it and wanted to sit on the potty too. So I let her because I am always having her sit on her potty to get used to it, and out of no where the girl PEES.  I was so proud of her, hopefully it means panties are in our near future.  Two in diapers are killing me. 

That rascally boulder

So Roscoe has been learning to crawl but for some reason will only go backwards.  He will make it all the way across the living room and hit the couch or the wall and get really mad because he has no where to go.  Well tonight Roxy put her hand down her pants and came up with a fist full poop and so while I as dealing with her Roscoe was in the living room crying.  At some point he just stopped, so i just kept changing Roxy and was glad that he had stopped, untill I went into the living room and he had gotten into the bowl of spaghettios that I had left on the floor.  I know, what was I thinking leaving them on the floor.  BUT when i left he was facing the bowl, so how did he get there?  Is he pretending to not know how to crawl or did he turn around and scoot backwards over to the bowl, we will never know.  But you can watch a video of him on youtube.com/hammfamily.  

okay I a do wind up talking about Roxy alot more than I talk about Roscoe but Roxy does more than he does.  But here will be a tribute to my precious little boulder.  Roscoe is a very happy kid.  He laughs.  He is learning to crawl, but mostly goes backwards.  He has only one tooth, but should be getting more soon.  He has a giant head.  A friend at church today who is due in 2 weeks was asking me if I had a c sections and I said, "no, why?"  And she said because his head is so big!!!!  This kid is seriously huge, I swear he is the same size as Roxy, Roxy just has longer legs.  He loves his daddy more than anyone else right now, even mommy.  I love this little boulder so much and will try to keep you more update about him.

Hurricane Ike

So Rich, Roxy, Roscoe and I have survived our first hurricane.  It has been one of the most trying times of our whole marriage.   So let me take you through this day by day.  Oh, I don't know how to put pics in order so they are very random.  Sorry

Wednesday:

We are still not convinced that the hurricane is going to hit us.  we go to sleep saying we are staying and I really think that it will wind up turning like every other hurricane in the past two years has.  We pack anyways just incase.  I also go to Wal Mart for supplies to get us through the weekend.  As I am there I can feel the sense of urgency, and wind up buying water and supplies and spending almost $200. 

Thursday morning:

As Rich is leaving for work I tell him that I am leaning towards staying because it is still only a cat 2.

Thursday midmorning:

Call Rich panicked because we are now in the mandatory evac zone and if we stay we will be on our own according to the city of houston.  I start to get pretty panicked watching the news and seeing how huge this storm is that is coming right for my home.  I keep calling Rich to see if her can leave early so that we can leave.  He does wind up getting of a little early and we take off pretty much as soon as he gets home.  Incidentally leaving the door to our shed open and a kindly neighbor closes the door for us.

We leave and drive to my uncle Erics who lives outside of Austin and stay with for the weekend.

Friday and Saturday:

My uncles house is not really for kids and Roxy and Roscoe have a hard time being there.  his house is like an art gallery.  Rich and I have a hard time being there because he does nor have internet, TV or a phone.  We were really blessed to have some where to go though.  I really enjoyed being there with my uncle.

Sunday:

We get and drive home.  the drive is pretty good.  We do see some damage and flooding.  Places worse than others and we begin to get really anxious about what could have happened to our house. 

Rich and I have a HUGE tree in our front yard, biggest on the block.  As we turn onto our street we cant see our tree.  The entire top of the tree is all over our yard and also on our roof.  There is BIG piece right over our bedroom and we panic that it went through.  Luckily it did not and all the damage done to our house is the tree is down.  OH, but we have no power.  we get the kids settled in and I decide that it is too hot to stay without power, but there is no where to stay, ALL OF HOUSTON has no power.  we start to clean up the yard and realize that there is no way we are getting it done tonight and we are going to jsut have to wait until tomorrow to tackle the job.

Monday and Tueday:

We now have to tackle the job.   We just start hauling.  The city sends someone to pick up all hte debris, but we have to get in piles and off the lawn so that it doesn't kill the yard.  It could be weeks before they start picking up the debris.  Rich and I just work our tales off.  There is a picture of me climbing in one of the trees trying to saw off the branches that snapped, but did not break.  Rich is afraid of heights.  I am really proud of my family for how well we all worked together and how great the kids are.  We pretty much spend the mornings cleaning up the front and back yards.  The neighbors tree fell in our backyard.  Oh we still have no power and have not heard from anyone because my phone is dead.  

So Tuesday we start driving to people we know and see how they faired.  We went to my friend Babbi's and pretty much spend the afternoons with her because she has power, a daughter Roxy's age, and she is one of my best friends.  Oh for dinner we heat up spaghettios on the grill.  Breakfast was poptarts on the grill.

Monday night was the best.  We had the most fun playing with the kids in the dark in our room playing with flashlights.  Rich put on a magic show, Roxy was the spotlight, I sang a song.

Wednesday:

Babbi got her internet back so I am back to finally check email, blog, and myspace.  Babbi and I go to the store and it is insane how bare the produce, dairy, and  frozen dept are.  I can't find any milk, just buttermilk.  There are no eggs.  There is no butter.  I get what we can but we are sure sick of non perishable food.  We still have no power.    

Thursday:

While at Babbi' check a website that says when power will be on in certain areas, the list for mine is not until AFTER next monday.   Now I am really starting to get stressed about not working, dealing with warming food and baby formula on the grill.  My friend Adam calls out of the blue, have not talked to the guy in two years, after I get home to no power and i have my first break down.  After I am done crying I have to check on Roscoe because he is crying (don't notice that the lights are on) and I hear the phone ring!!!!!  We have power ladies and gentlemen.  Roscoe gets up and I can make his bottle inside in a matter of seconds.  It was the most beautiful bottle to ever be made.  Which brings us to now.  

NOW:

We are good,  We are blessed and we are happy.  We are so proud that we have made it through this safe happy and still married.  I am proud of the church that we belong to so that we could help all the members who needed help and then jsut anyone who needed it.  We thank all who called and prayed for us.  We are home with power and my fingers are tired, so please feel free to call.  We would love to hear from you.

OH check out our  youtube.com/hammfamily

We have survived Ike

I can only write a little because I am on borrowed internet and power, but we did evacuate and we are fine. We stayed with my uncle just outside of Austin till sunday. We have been home since sunday and are still waiting for power. We are all fine and the house is fine. I will post some pictures when we get power again, but thank you for all the calls and prayers. I will post again soon.

to evacuate or to not evacuate

Okay so we are under probably the third hurricane watch this summer and so far we really have not seen much of anything, but I think Ike might change that.  We are actually thinking about leaving.  I have already called my uncle in Austin and secured us a place to stay, and Rich and I are going to start packing tonight.  Part of me wants to stay and see what a hurricane is like, but the other part of me really wants to go to austin and see what is there.  Plus if the power goes out and we don't have air conditioning Rich will probably evacuate anyways.  Ill keep you posted.

FAMILY MATTERS

SInce moving out here to Texas I have sometimes felt a profound sense of loniliness.  One that is sometimes palpable.  After Rich and I got married we moved to San Jose which was great.  It was far enough away that we were on our own and were not expected to make it to everything, but close enough that we could come anytime that we wanted.  I cannot tell you how many weekends I spent in sac.  Anytime I was lonely or not busy I was on I-80 headed east.

We moved to Texas two years ago and have taken maybe 7 trips back home and have put many dollars on our credit cards doing so.  i recently quit my job to stay home and we have made major cut backs, trips to california was one of them.

To be in a city where you have no history, no family, no memories is very sad sometimes.  I often would feel so left out when I would call me girlfriends and they were all going out to dinner.  When we first moved here I would cry just talking to my mom on the phone.  The worst was when I would call on SUnday night when everyone would go to my parents for dinner and I could here all of them having phone and joking and laughing.  It killed me to not be a part of that.

I also had the blessing of having dozens of cousins around me when I grew up and Roxy and Roscoe will not have that.  That makes me really sad.  BUT...

Tonight I went to enrichment.  When I was working I never went to Relief Society events because I was so tired.  When I was there at enrichment I felt very at home and like I belonged.  I have a very special ward.  One that is very similiar to the Gibson Park Ward for those of you who remember.  In this ward the woman are friendly, welcoming and there is not a clique to be found.  I love this ward like no other ward I have been in, and in the time we have been married I have been in 5 wards.  The other night we went to the Pinewood Derby and we talking about which girls will be going to Kindergarten together.  We are connected now.  We have Family that we share Holidays with.  We may not be connected by blood but we are certainly connected by love.  We have a future.  I was reading Hillary's blog which was talking about the past but I can not help but get excited about the future that we have made for Roxy and Roscoe here in Texas.  

Teething

So when Roxy was a baby, she did not get anyteeth until she was one year old.  It was the greatest thing ever.  We never knew when she was getting a tooth because they really did not bother her.  For instance right now she is getting in 6 teeth.  four canines and 2 molars and the only reason we realized they were coming in is because she has a big mouth and laughs loud.  Right now Roscoe is teething and I may very well ship him out to california until he is one.  I do not know what to do with him and I think some days I just want to sit and cry with him.  If any one has any tips that would be great.  By the way Roxy is totally my favorite right now.

So my mom made Roxy the most beautliful blessing dress that I have ever seen and it is always such a pity when then can only be used once.  Well guess what folks, Roxy still fits into heres!!!  After two years she can still fit into it.  It is a little tight in the chest, but it is the perfect length.

Life as a stay home mom

So I have quit my job and  I now stay home and take of my two adorable children and four other kids.  Some of you may say, "Rachel, what are you thinking!!!"  But I must say I have never been happier, more relaxed and just calm.  Some days I want to call the parents and tell them to come and get their little brats, but most days we have fun and I enjoy the time that I get to spend with my kids.  I also am really glad for the time I get to spend with the other kids too, and I really love teaching again.